As the situation in Iraq deteriorates, we are starting to hear some calls for a return to the draft. This is not the first time such calls have appeared, but they are getting a bit more notice now. Atrios has a
post linking to
this article on Yahoo and giving a nice response to Senator Chuck Hagel, encompassing the variables of our all-volunteer army and the salient point that a draft really
is not needed. He makes good points. Let me add some to this.
I think the fact that the military has become all-volunteer makes it easy for the deaths in Iraq and elsewhere to be overlooked. We can at least partly rationalize away the deaths knowing that the troops supposedly chose to be there. If we were talking about 18 year olds being forced against their will to this country and being murdered, it would be a hell of a lot harder to go about our business. But just because these soldiers chose to serve their country does not make their lives any less valuable or their deaths any less tragic.
The branches of the military don't sell service in a realistic manner. I remember a few years ago, I was just out of high school (or maybe just finishing up high school) and was contacted by a rep for the Navy. I've never had any interest in being involved in the military in any way, so I don't know why I let myself get talked into going in and testing, but I did. I wasn't sure what to do with my life, and I think that uncertainty led me to at least consider the possibilities. I went into the local office and took the entry test. I scored in the 99th percentile and the recruitment officer was all over me. He promised me the world; some easy service followed by a $50,000 college scholarship and a guaranteed job in journalism when I got out of school--basically whatever I wanted. He made it sound like a cakewalk with huge rewards. It was a no-brainer.
You know, for a moment I considered. Then I thought, "What the fuck am I doing?" and came to my senses. I'm a liberal, I'm a vegetarian (how well does that work in the military), and I'd always had a dim view of the indoctrination I believed occurred in the military. I politely declined and did so continually over the next few weeks as the guy kept trying to get me on board. Even after declining, I actually reconsidered, though without mentioning anything to the recruitment officer. It was so appealing--do some basic service and then have my college paid for and a guaranteed, good-paying job when I finished college.
Of course, there's nothing to stop the military from going back on their word. My understanding--and if I'm wrong on this, someone correct me--is that while you can be promised the world and can even sign contracts stating as much, the government is free at any time to renege on those promises. I'm not saying they absolutely would, but the vaunted guarantee would simply not be a real guarantee.
I also thought about the possibility of a war. I thought about trying to maintain who I was throughout my service. I thought about indoctrination and death and I never went back to that Navy office.
You can see, though, that to many people, service and the many promises that come with it would be too good to pass up. So they enter into the military, not expecting to be shipped off to another country to die for a war that never should have been fought. Our soldiers may have chosen to serve America, but they did not choose to go to Iraq and die for a war based on lies. To rationalize away their deaths, therefore, is a great mistake and is unfair both to the soldiers that have died, those who today are fighting for their lives, and the friends and families of all of them.
Which brings me back to the draft. The good thing about a draft is that it would bring home the reality of the war and the sacrifices being made. Every death would receive more scrutiny and the press might actually start covering the extensive woundings occurring. People would start to care when their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters were being sent, against their will, to die. But, goddamn it, we shouldn't have to institute a draft before we start caring about this. Every death happening now and every death in the future is involuntary--no matter who did or did not sign up for service. Every American we lose in Iraq died against his or her will and is a tragedy no matter why they ended up there in the first place.
A draft scares me to death. I am 23 years old; I am draft age. My friends are draft age. I am terrified that our government will attempt to send us to die for a war that should never have been started. This isn't just fair, this is criminal. I shouldn't have to die for George Bush and my friends shouldn't have to die for George Bush. We shouldn't have to die for his mistakes while he makes his goddamn speeches and makes his goddamn attacks and engages in what he believes to be a holy war, all from the comfort of his perfectly safe life. This is a man who has never known sacrifice and never will know sacrifice.
This is a man who, with a draft, would force innocent Americans to go die in a war that he began with lies, and then wouldn't even bother to attend the funerals.
No. I will not go die for that man. My friends will not go die for that man. This cannot happen. It simply cannot happen.
(Originally posted on my blog, Nightmares For Sale)