THE TROUBLE WITH AN ALL-VOLUNTEER MILITARY!

THE TROUBLE WITH AN ALL-VOLUNTEER MILITARY!

(New York Times, Casey B. Mulligan)

(Kennebec Journal, Washington Post, Ian Shapira)

(Julie Tate, Tim Richardson, Walter Pincus, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Conscription, now there is a great word, and one that I gotten mixed up for years, I thought that conscription was a problem with a person’s lower tract, like constipation, man was I wrong. Conscription and constipation are nothing alike…..of course both are the same in a way, they both are forceful…..kind of, and both do have a release at their end time.

 

Being constipated and falling prey to any kind of military conscription definitely has a binding effect on a person’s life. And to rid one’s self of either (feeling constipated or conscription) does take a bit of time, and a certain diet must be followed to cleanse the body. Its funny how different, yet how the same words in the English language can be.

 

Blogging about stating an opinion, I’ve come to understand, is usually taking exception to another’s opinion. And nobody will ever accuse me of not having an opinion about…..well, almost everything. That’s not to say that my opinions are always right, however in one aspect of offering my opinions, I’m pretty comfortable in the fact that I do, in fact offer them. There are way too many silent types who for whatever reason do not offer their opinions and that is sad because opinions are how we learn and grow

 

Today I’ve taken exception with the so called expediency of an all volunteer military, there are several reasons why I feel this way…..and I’ll list them right now. Casey B. Mulligan wrote a piece in the New York Times dated January 15, 2014, where he explains his opinion about an all-volunteer army being cost effective, more in tune with today’s world.

 

An all-volunteer military in the United States through the marketing mechanism of offering soldiers enough pay and benefits that there is a willingness to give up civilian activities in favor of using the U.S. military as a career choice of 20, 30 or even forty years like a job to retire from…..like being a truck driver, or working in a factory.

 

Casey B. Mulligan feels that intellectuals have been responsible for many changes, policy structures, and political changes in America. Intellectuals, scholars or thinkers do sometimes have major effects on governmental or industry changes in America; however, mostly a scholar’s thought on policy are more the subtle type.

 

VOLUNTEER VS. CONSCRIPTION MILITARY

There are distinct reasons why a country’s military quotas are filled by different ways of making the prescribed or perceived necessary numbers. Number one would probably be a duty or obligation to one’s country. Personally I’ve always thought that, that mind-set was hog-wash, that old duty to God and country, what a truck load of crap.

 

By and large people have absolutely no responsibility with regards to where they were born, so why would I owe anybody anything. A military draft, which I grew up with and internalized over (wasn’t everybody worried about getting drafted back in the 1960’s), I felt was unfair…..and unnecessary.

 

I really never understood the thinking behind the military readiness of a nation, I can tell you this, I don’t crap on my neighbors porch because he’s 6’-5” weighs a couple hundred well proportioned pounds and is more than capable of kicking my ass. He’s friendly, but if I crossed him…..well check out the first sentence of this paragraph.

 

Being in the military today is way too lucrative, a decent wage…..a nice pension…..some great benefits, and the chance to travel all over the world…..not bad, not bad. That however isn’t the best of it, a fearful respect by the rest of the world, a 20 year plan of employment and a destination of retirement bliss…..wow, how do you spell sweet!

 

The numbers for a military readiness operation back in the late 1960’s and 1970’s were about one-sixth of the male population. By 2003, (a time of wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan) armed forces numbered a scant one-fifteenth of the males of eligible age.

 

In today’s world, and the war like attitudes that seem to permeate much political thinking, a one-fifteenth share of a country’s population that is serving their country through military service is about the norm.

 

Intellectuals, economists and scholars fervently hope that their ideas matter, however in truth, they might help accelerate policy change that would have occurred anyways because of the costs and benefits, or help to prevent a nation from slipping back into old policy mistakes.

 

However the biggest and best argument for a conscription military over an all volunteer one boils down to one really simple truth. War needs to be avoided almost at any costs; nobody wants to risk a son, a daughter, a niece or nephew, or husband or wife from either traumatic injury or death from warfare. A conscripted military force has a way of ending all meaningless military interventions.

 

The powers that be in the world have made war an almost surgical process where little blood is spilled, and few of civilian populations see the horrors and carnage of what war really is. I personally have little sympathy for soldiers who lose their lives in some far off country that poses absolutely no threat to me, my family, or my way of life.

 

I have little regard for the intellectuals, thinkers and scholars who help to mold U.S. policies that govern how we deal with foreign governments through our foreign policies. Yes, the world is a violent place to occupy but it’s a place that we’re relegated to, the alternative wouldn’t be very pretty.

 

FROM THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS TO THE WISE BROTHERS

If you’ve never seen the movie, The Fighting Sullivans, find a copy of the 1944 movie, it’s a stark message on why war is to be avoided at all costs. Five brothers from a family living in Waterloo, Iowa lose their lives during World War II causing a complete different way that the military would operate their recruitment and the assignments of relatives in military operations.

 

It was designed so that one family would never again suffer such a tremendous lose, however it did, this time to the two Wise brothers who would make the ultimate  sacrifice…..their lives for what I would term outdated and illogical thinking. The embrace to military service was fueled by patriotism, swagger, and a youthful restlessness.

I don’t call our young people our treasure, they are young people who need to be protected…..from themselves, but other than that, they got a whole bunch of learning to do, so let’s leave them alone so that they can get on with that task.

 

Stupid wars get in the way, and make widows, orphans, and grieving sweethearts, grandparents, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. I hate war, war never ever solves anything, for the people like the Sullivans, and the Wises, let’s try really hard to solve world conflict without shooting one another.

 

I say…..again (bring back the draft), do you realize that a bit less than 2 million have served and fought the war on terror since 2001, less than 1% of the U.S. population, this fact has fostered a who cares attitude. I haven’t lost anybody close during the last 13 years of warfare…..but I still care.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!