Beat Me To It

There isn’t enough time in the day to blog about everything I’d like to get to. Fortunately, there are other bloggers out there -- many more capable than I.

Those a decade or so younger than I am probably can’t understand my dismay that my country is again involved in a decade-long war. After the pain of Vietnam, I didn’t think we would ever do it again. That’s why this line hit me so hard when I read it yesterday.

”A sixteen-year-old probably remembers when the United States was at peace. In a few more years, that cohort will be nineteen years old.”

I distinctly remember being a teenager, awaiting my turn to be drafted for Vietnam. That was the norm. Anybody could get drafted. Everybody knew someone that was. Fortunately for me, the war ended before I turned 18 and the draft was ended.

I believe ending the draft was a mistake. I don’t need to explain it -- WWVB beat me to it.

THE HABITUATION OF ROUTINIZED WAR AND THE RETURN OF THE DRAFT

”I thought Charles Rangel was grandstanding when he called for compulsory conscription, but I see now that the Korean War infantryman * was exactly right. You ask a kid about the draft these days, and they're going to reply, "NBA or NFL?"”

You might be interested to know that my son is 20 years old. If we had a draft, I would have found time to get to this subject a lot sooner. Which, of course, is the point.

Don Brown
March 30, 2011