nevermind... i have to get them a letter from selective services that says i wasn't eligible to sign up.

That and having to sign up for the Selective Service is ridiculous. Of course, in America, the only way to serve your country is to join the army.

last time I looked, the US still had an "all volunteer" army ... registering for selective service is a contingency based program, to be implemented only in the event of a dire national emergency.

FLM ... certainly you're not implying that, should the country need to reinstitute the draft, only the poor and uneducated would be required to serve in the military ... ?

whoa, easy babs - that's alot to infer, lol

I think there's something to be said for the draft... Makes it harder to support ill-advised invasions of non-threatening countries when it could be your own kid being sent over there as cannon fodder, rather than the black kid from the other side of town.

Actualy the draft encourages more skewing of the consprition towards the poor and supports ill advised invasions. The reason we switched to an all volunteer military is the fact ITS ALL VOLUNTEER - if you dont think a war is properly advised you dont have to go. Appearantly a lot of people voted to go to into service. The fact we are able to support such a large military without conscription is testament to our "rightousness". I woulnt expect a liberal deuche like yourself to understand this stuff.

the problem w/ an all volunteer army, especially in times of war, is that middle and lower classes bear the brunt of pain, at the hand/mercy of the ruling/elite classes.

if war is about risk, that risk should be equally shared. there is no shred of shared responsibility in a volunteer army. christ, people at home haven't even had to sacrifice for this war, as compared to other wars (rationing, drives, etc)

for many people, volunteering for the army is the only way they see how to get out of poverty or improve their life positition. it's seen as a way of upward mobility.

while not having a draft works well in times of peace or limited enemy engagement, it is absolute trash in times of all out war.

also bonuses of the all volunteer army:
-higher incidents of injury as opposed to death, thanks to advances in field medicine

-stop loss

-end to discharging drug and alcohol addicts

-increased gang violence due to relaxed entry rules to meet

-massive brain drain due to prolonged war and vets being able to make 10x more working in security (blackwater, kbr, etc)



and let's be honest, half those douchebags running (ruining?) AIG or GM could seriously have used a little military discipline in their f*cking pathetic lives.

ep, what are your thoughts on mandatory service? are you implying israel is unrighteous?

Isreal is in a land of lunatics, I dont personally give a shit what they or their neighbors do.

The all volunteer military has a better cross section of society than the draft in Vietnam for example. It also has a much lower death and injury rate. A military is held in check by the willingness of the people to join. Its a beautiful system. And as I watch the news each night, I see just as many dead soldiers from nice suburbs like Wheaton, Deerfield as I see names like Munoz or Garcia from the inner cities of Chicago. I wouldnt say this war is skewed.

As for GM - We all know the union legacy costs the companies were forced into in the 50s and 60s by the Government backed labor unions have directly lead to their inability to retool, regroup fast enough to changing markets on top of the hundreds of billions of absurd legacy promises.

AIG is a different story - latest news is they are the tool for pumping money back to the banks via swap contracts the government is making AIG cover. If true - that its a plan to recapitalise the banks after the Fannie Freddie induced sub prime orgy - it will be the greatest secret transfer of wealth in history. Thats some stealthy shit.

The big problem with selective service is that it is completely unfair to men.

But I suppose we trade off indentured servitude (to a government that can't even build a fucking sidewalk anywhere because no one under the age of 25 can afford a car anymore, yeah for disregarding the need for generational urbanism) for the male gaze.

Yea, Rock, I dunno. I think the system is that way out of necessity. I'm sure alot of people will disagree with me, but I believe the majority of women are simply not physically strong or emotionally stable enough to enter real combat situations. Though apparently women make better pilots? Something about reflexes?

What do you people think about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?"

The all volunteer army has a lower IQ than the drafted army. its a fact...

I think it's pretty obvious by this point that no one category of people is "strong enough" to emotionally handle war. If you think men in general can "handle" it while women supposedly can't then you need to learn a lot more about the psychological impact this war is taking.

I would say that might be true if modern war actually involved combat... but running around and pointing a gun at things doesn't seem to me to require very much strength. This is probably a gross simplification but 10 years of watching CNN have told me that people don't do much other than cower in fear behind objects while taking shots with automatic weapons.

Also, very few people in the actual armed forces are armed forces. The numbers on support personnel, office workers and maintenance people is absurd.

I'm not even asking for a 50/50 but a 30/70 would be better and a 37/63 split would be 'fair.'

You shouldn't be allowed to vote without serving your country.

Did this help?

Manta, I'm familiar with post-traumatic stress disorder, and though I'm not saying men aren't affected by it, I think they'd be more resistant to it than women.

Rock, yes, I agree - but as far as "combat" goes, which really did get up close and personal with door-to-door operations, I'd think you'd want men. But hey, perhaps I'm wrong, those women in Starship Troopers kicked ASS!

Movies are like that.