If the road to Tehran required the sons and daughters of the billionaire & political class to march beside everyone else’s kids, would we still be there?
But in 1965, who knew? I had POD, problems of democracy in HS, ROTC, got my draft notice as soon as I graduated. Although I flunked the ROTC physical, they took me anyway. !966-1967 MAC V, Military Assistance Command - Vietnam.
Roughly 15% of the general population can't pass the AFQT, Armed Forces Qualification Test. Wonder how 'Ol Bone spurs did?
You may not have voted but you are,like me, part of the animal, and it is too difficult to spend time trying to differentiate.. We talk of white male supremacy, but not all whites, or males are supremacists..
Generalization is in fact unavoidable in human communication, we are not that sophisticated.
I know that "the draft" became a dirty word and a hot button for unrest during the last half of the 20th Century, however a citizen military... universal national service... is still the best path for a social democracy -- at least until there is no longer the threat of war, and that is unlikely any time soon.
Having lived through it, including a whole day at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, in 1971, I know of what I speak. But I also know it was because the Vietnam War was fought by a citizen army that we were able to finally derail it.
Of course the key is "universal"... That is: no one is exempt, regardless of family wealth or position.
They shouldn't... And that is the point. If we have universal national service we are much less likely to have an illegal war. Citizens -- considering themselves and family -- are much more likely to insist that any entry into war be very closely scrutinized and discussed and finally voted on.
With a professional army, adventures overseas are just another news item on the TV until real pain comes calling, if at all.
War historically implies Congressional approval. Donald Trump is not the first person to go to war without authorization, but obviously Congressional approval does not exist in Trump's repertoire.
Previous unauthorized wars were never denied. I’m talking about Trump’s personal aversion to getting authorization from Congress, for actions which require congressional approval, as stated in the Constitution.
I agree that a draft that puts rich and poor alike in the same ranks is better for democracy than an all-volunteer military. But that is not what will restrain us from going to war, or policing the world. That can only come from a sea change in our assumptions about our international purpose, and in Congress taking back its Constitutional responsibilities.
Universal draft which does not include exemption for college students, which the rich use to avoid sending their kids, is a must. No exemption for bone spurs either!
Thom mentions the contractors, and this point is crucial. Private contractors (guns for hire) made up at least 50% of our forces in the Iraq war and much more in Afghanistan, up to 75%. Follow the money. War is hugely prosperous for a few U.S. industries, just as Eisenhower warned. In his 1961 speech about the military-industrial complex, he said that we need an “alert and knowledgeable citizenry” that would demand we make sane decisions about going to war and what we spend on it. How much of our social-media-influenced citizenry is either of those things? Disinformation has been the new war zone for years. If all of this was transparent—if Democratic leaders cared enough to make it so—we could have these big conversations. Thank Thom for being almost a lone voice in this era of a nearly complete right-wing takeover of the media, traditional and digital.
I estimate that about half of my Defense Base Act and War Hazards Act cases involved foreign mercenaries. Lots were natives but many from Africa and Latin America.
Not just foreign mercenaries. Two of my ex team members, retired and joined Wackenhut, then joined Blackwater, they were killed on the same day in Dec 2011
Wackenhut, Blackwater (Xi), CACI and so forth hire a lot of ex military, especially special operators.
The DOD does their training for them, they only finesse and keep them current, a great business model, the government likes it too, it gives them freedom to operate, without congressional authority and with plausible deniability, plus no retirement or VA benefits.
Thanks for the memories. I was called up for my physical in the fall of 1967. Like our glorious and esteemed president, I received a medical deferment. Unlike our glorious and esteemed president, mine was legitimate. I had had major surgery a few weeks before; and the army, perhaps crazy but not stupid, didn't want to take on my after-care. Meanwhile, they introduced the draft lottery. I drew #329. "Relief" doesn't begin to describe the emotion.
As much as I support the idea of a citizen army, I still can't bring myself to get behind a draft, unless it's part of a truly universal service plan that would permit any draftee to opt out of military service and choose community service instead.
When I contemplate the all-volunteer army, I'm reminded of this quote from "Jack Reacher. "There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it's a family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next, you have those who just need a job. Than there's the kind who want a legal means of killing other people." Not very encouraging, is it?
First, I can't approve of anyone being drafted to die in such a crazy war as this. Next, what you're talking about is Canon fodder. I believe war to be useless and primitive. This is not a truly civilized planet until there are no more wars and useless bloodshed. Last, Michael Moore beat you to this idea.
True Sarah, but there will always be wars and rumors of wars. And thus everyone must bear the pain. If there is no draft, then it is easier to get into war, because those getting killed and put in harms way are volunteers, At least the draft acts as a deterrence, and that should please you. No draft , more wars, a draft, less wars.
Do you not see the fallacy of your position. The reason we are in Iran right now is because there is no draft.
We're in Iran because of a crazy president. One who pays more attention to ballrooms and Bibi than to US citizens. We're in Iran because the congress who was elected to protect us isn't doing so. Killing US volunteers in this conflict is unconscionable. Drafting and killing people who are opposed is just insane. If one just assumes there must always be war then no more reasonable ways to resolve conflict will be pursued. An evolution in thinking is required here. People did gradually stop smocking when they finally let the facts in.
The volunteer services are able to pick and choose.....
If we want success instead of equity, maybe we should stick with the volunteers. If you are a service member, perhaps you do not want to serve alongside people who do not measure-up or have real pride in what they are doing.
It's HEAVY, and until you do serve, I don't think it is easily understood.
The change that I would like to see is to wait till individuals are around 25 when their brain catches-up with their body.
I think they have figured out we killed those school children in Iran, because of bad maps. My father knew they did the same in WWII---it's one of the few things he talked about concerning his 35 missions. The heartbreak never ends. See you in the streets.
Served as an "old" lady of 35 during the Cold War. Don't let the "Cold" word fool ya. Still had bombings from the terrorists, even some from the Mid-East. People liked that I took my security assignments seriously.
When your Commander In Chief's brain is scrambled to the point where a certifiable nutjob atop Israel [Bibi] can make Bibi's 40-year wet-dream come true and get the Prez to both fund and staff his "Vanity War." Well, as Carl Weathers says in "Arrested Development," "You've got yourself a stew."
And if you survive, but your brain was broken, you find out the Trump VA's Psychological Help is fading away, but fast.
--- According to Politico :
“Mental Health is understaffed, burned out, and there is not enough mental health care for the Veterans who need the services,” wrote one New York-based former employee, according to the records.
“Support is no longer there to provide ethical and good care for these Veterans,” wrote a second, based in Indiana. “Scheduling issues are incredibly high due to poor staff hiring and retention.”
Yet another wrote that the number of new patients seeking help at their Kansas facility was far too high, making it “unethical to accept more veterans in our clinics.”
--- End of quotes.
So, of course, people who want the promise of a future for their kids are gonna take a hard pass on "Operation Epstein Fury !!!"
VOTE for a sane person in all [local, State, Federal] offices.
The only problem with the draft is that, like all things in the "US," the people/billionaires being called out are almost exclusively European/white. And, like all things in the "US" they can buy their way out of the draft, just like they buy their way out of prison. Take your "US" President Donald "Smitty" Trump, there was a Vietnam draft that he bought his way out of... FIVE times. That M.F. ducked five times!
My daddy didn't duck, except bullets.
Ergo, a draft will only expose the putrid stench of racism; especially Anti-Blackism.
Until then I hope our personal stories can help to at least provide a sobering reality to our citizenry. I published a piece yesterday from the from the perspective of a daughter of a dad who fought in Vietnam and the mom of four disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. “You can oppose this war and still love this country. You can oppose this war and still support the troops. In fact, opposing it may be the most patriotic thing you can do right now.
Not despite what history has taught us. Because of it.
We have done this before. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. We went in without a plan, without a defined objective, without an honest answer to how we'd know when it was over. Every single time, real soldiers paid the price for that failure. Real families were changed forever.
We have the receipts. We know what "we'll figure it out as we go" costs.
Seven service members are already dead. Congress was notified after the bombs dropped — not consulted, notified. No vote. No debate. And if you raise any of that out loud, you're told you don't support the troops.
I want to push back on that. Hard.
Supporting the troops isn't a bumper sticker. It isn't silence. It's demanding honest answers before more of them board the plane. It's insisting that Congress do its constitutional job before we commit American lives and American dollars to a war with no defined goal and no plan for the day after.
That's what patriotism looks like. That's what supporting the troops looks like.”
Christ warned us in the Gospels. St. Paul in First Timothy and elsewhere: the love of money is the root of all evil, and the wealthy are a curse on the planet. They were speaking and writing in an era when the money held by our morbidly rich would have been inconceivable.
But for the fact I view human nature as irretrievably bad when given the chance, I'd be a communist. Because I think a world where we provided what people need instead of allowing them to grab what they want would be a better world.
Because that won't happen, things are going to keep getting worse until, by accident or intention, someone finally pulls the nuclear trigger and wipes us out. Short of that, income inequality, health care inequality, educational inequality, racial inequality, gender inequality will continue to increase. And increase. And increase. With occasional burps by those exercising the "Mangione Option".
I flunked my own draft physical because of a congenital vision problem, but would have gone to Vietnam had I passed, as a duty, even believing the war totally wrong, because so many others, most poor, mostly non-white, had no choice but to go and serve their (our) misguided masters. And because my family was a military one, and I had ancestors who fought in every one of our wars from the Revolution forward.
Despite the joy he has brought us every day of his nearly eight years now, I wish our beloved grandson had n ever been born. Because he faces a world so ugly, bleak and unpromising I would not wish it on him or the rest of his generation. It embarrasses me that even though a rare ailment removed me from the ability to live in the normal world 25 years ago, I had the privilege of nearly 50 years at the end of the 20th century when it seemed we would keep getting better, albeit taking two steps forward and one step back time and again. That time is gone. Thanks to Lewis Powell, SCOTUS, Project 2025, everything MAGA and MAHA, the morbidly rich have won. Unless AI becomes super intelligent, realizes what a curse they are to the planet, and turns them all into fertilizer, we are on a very short fuse in my view.
I served for 2 years in the National Health Service Corps in West Virginia. Best experience and education ever (and MSU was a pretty terrific education).
Only those who voted for the war!
Let’s stop lumping everyone together
Good idea.
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Hoo, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord.
But in 1965, who knew? I had POD, problems of democracy in HS, ROTC, got my draft notice as soon as I graduated. Although I flunked the ROTC physical, they took me anyway. !966-1967 MAC V, Military Assistance Command - Vietnam.
Roughly 15% of the general population can't pass the AFQT, Armed Forces Qualification Test. Wonder how 'Ol Bone spurs did?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWijx_AgPiA
We wanted the Hell's Angels to displace us!
Want to end the war? Say the magic word. EPSTEIN!
You may not have voted but you are,like me, part of the animal, and it is too difficult to spend time trying to differentiate.. We talk of white male supremacy, but not all whites, or males are supremacists..
Generalization is in fact unavoidable in human communication, we are not that sophisticated.
I know that "the draft" became a dirty word and a hot button for unrest during the last half of the 20th Century, however a citizen military... universal national service... is still the best path for a social democracy -- at least until there is no longer the threat of war, and that is unlikely any time soon.
Having lived through it, including a whole day at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, in 1971, I know of what I speak. But I also know it was because the Vietnam War was fought by a citizen army that we were able to finally derail it.
Of course the key is "universal"... That is: no one is exempt, regardless of family wealth or position.
D. Laghezza
Yes, this newsletter rightly points out how undemocratic our service personnel makeup is. But why should people be drafted into an illegal war?
They shouldn't... And that is the point. If we have universal national service we are much less likely to have an illegal war. Citizens -- considering themselves and family -- are much more likely to insist that any entry into war be very closely scrutinized and discussed and finally voted on.
With a professional army, adventures overseas are just another news item on the TV until real pain comes calling, if at all.
D.
War historically implies Congressional approval. Donald Trump is not the first person to go to war without authorization, but obviously Congressional approval does not exist in Trump's repertoire.
We had numerous covert wars ongoing after WW II.
We forget stuff like Iran/Contra, but Reagan's senility saved him.....
Yep. not only covert but overt, the Rucksack War (Grenada) the Invasion of Panama., even Obama used drone strikes.
Previous unauthorized wars were never denied. I’m talking about Trump’s personal aversion to getting authorization from Congress, for actions which require congressional approval, as stated in the Constitution.
I agree that a draft that puts rich and poor alike in the same ranks is better for democracy than an all-volunteer military. But that is not what will restrain us from going to war, or policing the world. That can only come from a sea change in our assumptions about our international purpose, and in Congress taking back its Constitutional responsibilities.
It might make a difference. But I don't think Donald cares if Barron goes to Iran
Barron would never go, he would get a deferment.
Too tall.
By one angry inch---bet they could get him a waiver.
LOL. you got a point. His uniform and boots would have to be tailor made.
tRump already said he's too tall.
Universal draft which does not include exemption for college students, which the rich use to avoid sending their kids, is a must. No exemption for bone spurs either!
Thom mentions the contractors, and this point is crucial. Private contractors (guns for hire) made up at least 50% of our forces in the Iraq war and much more in Afghanistan, up to 75%. Follow the money. War is hugely prosperous for a few U.S. industries, just as Eisenhower warned. In his 1961 speech about the military-industrial complex, he said that we need an “alert and knowledgeable citizenry” that would demand we make sane decisions about going to war and what we spend on it. How much of our social-media-influenced citizenry is either of those things? Disinformation has been the new war zone for years. If all of this was transparent—if Democratic leaders cared enough to make it so—we could have these big conversations. Thank Thom for being almost a lone voice in this era of a nearly complete right-wing takeover of the media, traditional and digital.
I estimate that about half of my Defense Base Act and War Hazards Act cases involved foreign mercenaries. Lots were natives but many from Africa and Latin America.
Not just foreign mercenaries. Two of my ex team members, retired and joined Wackenhut, then joined Blackwater, they were killed on the same day in Dec 2011
Wackenhut, Blackwater (Xi), CACI and so forth hire a lot of ex military, especially special operators.
The DOD does their training for them, they only finesse and keep them current, a great business model, the government likes it too, it gives them freedom to operate, without congressional authority and with plausible deniability, plus no retirement or VA benefits.
I was the judge for 3, convicted of murder, who were pardoned by Trump.
Interesting but relevant to my comment, how?
Thanks for the memories. I was called up for my physical in the fall of 1967. Like our glorious and esteemed president, I received a medical deferment. Unlike our glorious and esteemed president, mine was legitimate. I had had major surgery a few weeks before; and the army, perhaps crazy but not stupid, didn't want to take on my after-care. Meanwhile, they introduced the draft lottery. I drew #329. "Relief" doesn't begin to describe the emotion.
As much as I support the idea of a citizen army, I still can't bring myself to get behind a draft, unless it's part of a truly universal service plan that would permit any draftee to opt out of military service and choose community service instead.
When I contemplate the all-volunteer army, I'm reminded of this quote from "Jack Reacher. "There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it's a family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next, you have those who just need a job. Than there's the kind who want a legal means of killing other people." Not very encouraging, is it?
I served in the National Health Service Corps in West Virginia (Appalachia) as a nurse for 2 years. Best education and experience in my long career.
First, I can't approve of anyone being drafted to die in such a crazy war as this. Next, what you're talking about is Canon fodder. I believe war to be useless and primitive. This is not a truly civilized planet until there are no more wars and useless bloodshed. Last, Michael Moore beat you to this idea.
True Sarah, but there will always be wars and rumors of wars. And thus everyone must bear the pain. If there is no draft, then it is easier to get into war, because those getting killed and put in harms way are volunteers, At least the draft acts as a deterrence, and that should please you. No draft , more wars, a draft, less wars.
Do you not see the fallacy of your position. The reason we are in Iran right now is because there is no draft.
We're in Iran because of a crazy president. One who pays more attention to ballrooms and Bibi than to US citizens. We're in Iran because the congress who was elected to protect us isn't doing so. Killing US volunteers in this conflict is unconscionable. Drafting and killing people who are opposed is just insane. If one just assumes there must always be war then no more reasonable ways to resolve conflict will be pursued. An evolution in thinking is required here. People did gradually stop smocking when they finally let the facts in.
The volunteer services are able to pick and choose.....
If we want success instead of equity, maybe we should stick with the volunteers. If you are a service member, perhaps you do not want to serve alongside people who do not measure-up or have real pride in what they are doing.
It's HEAVY, and until you do serve, I don't think it is easily understood.
The change that I would like to see is to wait till individuals are around 25 when their brain catches-up with their body.
I think they have figured out we killed those school children in Iran, because of bad maps. My father knew they did the same in WWII---it's one of the few things he talked about concerning his 35 missions. The heartbreak never ends. See you in the streets.
The guy the song Favorite Son was about was in my reserve unit. His dad, a US senator was gung ho....
At age 23 I was a Vietnam veteran. After discharge, due to the commitment, I was in the reserves until I was 32...
Mentioned in another song...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFOUkipI4U&list=RDtFFOUkipI4U&start_radio=1
Served as an "old" lady of 35 during the Cold War. Don't let the "Cold" word fool ya. Still had bombings from the terrorists, even some from the Mid-East. People liked that I took my security assignments seriously.
Rich kids are born with bone spurs that disappear at age 26 and 1 day.
When your Commander In Chief's brain is scrambled to the point where a certifiable nutjob atop Israel [Bibi] can make Bibi's 40-year wet-dream come true and get the Prez to both fund and staff his "Vanity War." Well, as Carl Weathers says in "Arrested Development," "You've got yourself a stew."
And if you survive, but your brain was broken, you find out the Trump VA's Psychological Help is fading away, but fast.
--- According to Politico :
“Mental Health is understaffed, burned out, and there is not enough mental health care for the Veterans who need the services,” wrote one New York-based former employee, according to the records.
“Support is no longer there to provide ethical and good care for these Veterans,” wrote a second, based in Indiana. “Scheduling issues are incredibly high due to poor staff hiring and retention.”
Yet another wrote that the number of new patients seeking help at their Kansas facility was far too high, making it “unethical to accept more veterans in our clinics.”
--- End of quotes.
So, of course, people who want the promise of a future for their kids are gonna take a hard pass on "Operation Epstein Fury !!!"
VOTE for a sane person in all [local, State, Federal] offices.
#Send Barron
The only problem with the draft is that, like all things in the "US," the people/billionaires being called out are almost exclusively European/white. And, like all things in the "US" they can buy their way out of the draft, just like they buy their way out of prison. Take your "US" President Donald "Smitty" Trump, there was a Vietnam draft that he bought his way out of... FIVE times. That M.F. ducked five times!
My daddy didn't duck, except bullets.
Ergo, a draft will only expose the putrid stench of racism; especially Anti-Blackism.
Until then I hope our personal stories can help to at least provide a sobering reality to our citizenry. I published a piece yesterday from the from the perspective of a daughter of a dad who fought in Vietnam and the mom of four disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. “You can oppose this war and still love this country. You can oppose this war and still support the troops. In fact, opposing it may be the most patriotic thing you can do right now.
Not despite what history has taught us. Because of it.
We have done this before. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. We went in without a plan, without a defined objective, without an honest answer to how we'd know when it was over. Every single time, real soldiers paid the price for that failure. Real families were changed forever.
We have the receipts. We know what "we'll figure it out as we go" costs.
Seven service members are already dead. Congress was notified after the bombs dropped — not consulted, notified. No vote. No debate. And if you raise any of that out loud, you're told you don't support the troops.
I want to push back on that. Hard.
Supporting the troops isn't a bumper sticker. It isn't silence. It's demanding honest answers before more of them board the plane. It's insisting that Congress do its constitutional job before we commit American lives and American dollars to a war with no defined goal and no plan for the day after.
That's what patriotism looks like. That's what supporting the troops looks like.”
https://danismart.substack.com/p/opposing-this-war-is-the-most-patriotic
Christ warned us in the Gospels. St. Paul in First Timothy and elsewhere: the love of money is the root of all evil, and the wealthy are a curse on the planet. They were speaking and writing in an era when the money held by our morbidly rich would have been inconceivable.
But for the fact I view human nature as irretrievably bad when given the chance, I'd be a communist. Because I think a world where we provided what people need instead of allowing them to grab what they want would be a better world.
Because that won't happen, things are going to keep getting worse until, by accident or intention, someone finally pulls the nuclear trigger and wipes us out. Short of that, income inequality, health care inequality, educational inequality, racial inequality, gender inequality will continue to increase. And increase. And increase. With occasional burps by those exercising the "Mangione Option".
I flunked my own draft physical because of a congenital vision problem, but would have gone to Vietnam had I passed, as a duty, even believing the war totally wrong, because so many others, most poor, mostly non-white, had no choice but to go and serve their (our) misguided masters. And because my family was a military one, and I had ancestors who fought in every one of our wars from the Revolution forward.
Despite the joy he has brought us every day of his nearly eight years now, I wish our beloved grandson had n ever been born. Because he faces a world so ugly, bleak and unpromising I would not wish it on him or the rest of his generation. It embarrasses me that even though a rare ailment removed me from the ability to live in the normal world 25 years ago, I had the privilege of nearly 50 years at the end of the 20th century when it seemed we would keep getting better, albeit taking two steps forward and one step back time and again. That time is gone. Thanks to Lewis Powell, SCOTUS, Project 2025, everything MAGA and MAHA, the morbidly rich have won. Unless AI becomes super intelligent, realizes what a curse they are to the planet, and turns them all into fertilizer, we are on a very short fuse in my view.
I served for 2 years in the National Health Service Corps in West Virginia. Best experience and education ever (and MSU was a pretty terrific education).