Giltwist

One word: Crap.

Full article here

Wax_off

O.K. The thing I think is interesting about this is that the legislation has been introduced by two democrats. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-NY in the House and Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-SC in the Senate.

Very weird. It seems unlikely that the bills will get very far since it seems like there would be very little support for it, but why have they been introduced by democrats if the administration is trying to sneak it through.

Scipio

Interestingly, both of those bills were proposed by Democratic legislators who wanted to get in the news. The idea was that talk of the draft would make the war seem closer to home, and make people consider it more carefully. Those bills are currently as good as dead:

http://www.californiaaggie.com/article/?id=4686

That said, there have been movements on other fronts to prepare for the draft.

http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sit...ry/html/165236

Nevermind the selective service. High Schools that receive federal money are required to give the military access to student information for recruiting purposes.

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com...190138,00.html

They've been doing stop loss for quite a while now, but it's just another indicator of the manpower problems that the military faces.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0...228178,00.html

So there you go. The tricky part about this is that the political situation changes completely after November 5th. Neither candidate wants to talk about it now, but it's certainly going to be on the table once the election is over, and the hot potato cools down. I'm guessing that the possibility of a draft next year after the election is quite real, but at the same time, there's talk of moving our troops out of Iraq in the next year or two. Perhaps they can stretch things out until then, but there are two things to consider. One, our military is at a state of high activity, and will need several months to regroup and cool down before remobilizing, and two, it will take a considerable amount of time to get draftees up to speed. How long? I'm not really sure.

Nobody really knows at this point, and all I can say with certainty is that the draft will probably be on the table next year, and we'll almost certainly have a draft debate, if not a draft itself. There's just no crystal ball we can look into.

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KillerYoda

Damn, I guess I better shoot myself in the foot and hobble to Canada then.

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subz

Hopefully the plate I had put into my foot when I broke my heel will allow me to skip this over.

I think it's pretty much BS that they need to draft soliders to go and fight. We're in Iraq by choice. The draft was created so we could have an army if we get attacked. Of course any of the politicians childern will be exempt which is complete crap. So the ones deciding it have nothing to worry about.

rainheart

Okay, all of the hot female draft dodgers contact me and I'll offer you residence at my living quarters in exchance for... certain services.

Stompy

I highly doubt it'll get passed. This rumor has been floating about for years now.

If it does, oh well. I'd rather spend a few years in jail than to have someone else dictate when my life is over.

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Shades

Yeah, it's not all young Americans, it's all young MALE americans. Funny, whenever I hear women demanding equal rights, registering with the SSS never comes up.

MSD

They want to make sure the rich white kids get an equal opportunity to go get shot. That is Rangel's intent for this law.

Draft me when I'm boarded up in my basement defending my house from an invasion. Until then, volunteer military is fine.

elfuq

The pentagon constantly denies that it wants a draft, claiming that an 'all-professional' force is better, even though the stop-loss orders being constantly extended now means that it's sure as heck not an 'all-volunteer' force.

If Dubya wins in November, legislation for a draft will appear in the first two years of his term. I believe.

35 is too old, right?

seretogis

It is still all-volunteer in that they volunteered to sign up in the first place.

It's simply not going to happen. It makes no sense to those who aren't wearing tin-foil hats.

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Averett

Hey, we're not stupid

Yeah, this won't happen. Don't worry fellas.

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Locobot

Actually the legislation specifically mentions that women and men are to be drafted equally. Treaties between Canada and America (post-Vietnam) have been signed saying that draft dodgers will not be given asylum in either country. Given our enhanced border protection you probably wouldn't make it across anyhow. If Bush's daughters are drafted first then I would have much less of a problem with this, but we all know the liklihood of that to be nil.

Rdr4evr

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

filtherton

I think the draft should be based on support for the war. If you support, you fight it. It would cut down on all the chicken hawkage.

Eric640

This same guy has been bringing this same bill up over and over for like 10 years. He does it to make a point.

I don't believe it's a serious attempt, and even if it was... it would fail miserably.

Any politician who supported it would be committing political suicide. Bush isn't in a position to back a bill like that... I don't see where the support would come from.

The public would be wildly against it...

It just doesn't make sense. The only reason the guy keeps pushing for it is to get attention.

reconmike

I think the draft should only be reinstated in times of national emergency. At the moment we have adequate troop strength
to handle most situations.

With the draft also comes unsavory people who do not want to be there, are scared shitless to fight, or were just to stupid to try and run.

If there were to be a national emergency of any magnitude and the draft were necessary I think everyone of the drafting age should serve.
I dont believe everyone should be put into a combat roll because obviously there are those who believe nothing is worth fighting for.
These are the people who should be doing clerical duties or manual labor for a year as a service to the country that has given so much to them.

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G5_Todd

i think that military service should be manditory for all americans......but i dont see it happening

the guys that are over in iraq arent gonna want to be there with a bunch of guys that are gonna bitch the entire time

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analog

You know, i have nothing but admiration and respect for people who are in the service... but if all the ex-servicepeople want to grind on about how it should be compulsory or how it shouldn't be a big deal to have a draft in times of emergency, I ask how in the world they have a rational reason to back it up.

Armed forces not made of volunteers is not the kind I want to have.

sonikeko

Actually, there is a lot of Support for the bills in both the House and Senate...THAT is the scarry part. Also, College Students and Women would no longer be excluded from the draft.

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Shades

Equality at last!

mml

I would actually like to see a mandatory service system. It would not necessarily require you to serve in the military, but two years of service to your country. It could be in education, community service work, etc. I would love to see a "Domestic Peace Corps" idea actually come to fruition. If someone is inclined to serve in the military they could, but there would be alternatives.

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soccerchamp76

Selective service, what a joke.

Let's get a large group of people that do not want to fight, give them a gun and tell them to shoot. Really good idea!

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Mikado

I think I read somewhere that it takes 6-9 months for draftees to be prepped. Apparently the plan was to draft in enough people to replace the hundreds of thousands of soliders who are not in conflict areas. Thus sending those more experienced into Iraq, not the draftees. That would be a very poor military strategy to send a bunch of non-volunteers to Iraq. So in other words, just because you get drafted, doesn't automatically put you on a death list. Chances are very slim that you'll see live combat unless you select an infantry or frontline MOS.

I personally would happily go with I got drafted. However, I think by the time a draft is instituted I'll be too old. The way I see it, if my best friend made a commitment to serve and defend our country in Iraq, I'd go, if drafted, to show my support for him and everyone else over there. If the situation gets to a point where those guys are in need of more troops and a draft is instated, I'll go. I don't think I could live with myself knowing they needed support in terms of able bodies, and I didn't lend a hand.

Stompy

That's assuming they wanna be there to begin with. I have a hard time believing that they wanna be there.

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fuzyfuzer

this system doesn't always work take someone who plans to be a doctor should they have to give up two years of their life when they are already giving up the whole thing to other people. just dosent seem right to me

call me crazy but i think that there should also be some things that knock you out of a draft i feel that if you are in say the top 10 percent of people in national standardized tests you shouldn't be drafted these are the people that stand to do a lot for your country they are treasures that should not be waisted. why would you take them from what they are exceling at and send them somwhere that they are not going to fit into.

it really doesnt work i know because my dad was drafted after he finished medical school along with other college graduates and training them did not work. from what he tells me they just weren't afraid of drill sarjent so they couldn't make them do anything and they we all discharged ust told to go home.

anyone agree with this i think it may be a little out therebut it makes since to me

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roadkill

I think that america needs a draft especially if bush wants to keep this war on terror going. I doubt that he can have enough troops attacking country A and sill hold Iraq and afganisan, so he needs a draft... so it just seems fitting to have him and the draft