I am old enough to remember the selective service system that fed our military force structure in the jungles of Vietnam. I remember older cousins waiting to see if they could get deferments, waiting for a lottery number, or just enlisting to get it over with. I also remember a national debate on the nature of selective service and its role in our republic. Apparently the leadership of the current administration and their rubber stamp puppets in the Congress remembers none of this.
When I started my service in the United States Air Force, I was part of a new, all volunteer force; an active duty force with Reserve and National Guard support established to meet and beat the threat of the Soviet Union. That war is over, we won. As Secretary Rumsfeld transforms the military force to face new threats he is very careful to state that he is not breaking the Active Duty Force, the Regular military. He praises the Reserve and National Guard forces and he calls them up again and again, something those citizen soldiers didn't sign on for.
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