Ever since the draft was dropped in 1973 there have been calls for its resumption. The reasons given are not so much military as they are social. Call it, conservative social engineering.
As is natural for any older generation, some of us take a gander at today’s young men and grimace. How can their tattooed, video game playing, pierced ranks ever hope to stand up to a national security threat like their forefathers did on Omaha Beach?
How can texting soy boys carry out their responsibilities as American citizens if we were ever in serious danger? We ask these things and we wonder. But, we are not the first to ponder. Before WWII Hitler and Tojo gazed upon jitter bugging, zoot suited, big band crazed American manhood and thought them weak and decadent. They learned better in Sicily and at Midway. But that was another day and time. America has changed since then.
However, the notion of the benefits of a draft is a consistent one and more than a few think the remedy is conscription. Put some steel in their backs, some snap to their walk. As a veteran of Army Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, I can tell you it certainly does that.
Like multitudes before and after me, I got there a snot-nosed kid. Specifically, I was an allegedly clever frat boy. After about five minutes of being screamed at within an inch of my face, my combat veteran drill instructor’s spittle splattering on my startled mug on a regular basis, I grew up real quick. However, I was there on my own volition. I actually volunteered for that stuff. Which brings us to the war in Ukraine.
A big part of the reason the Russians have stalled is their reliance on conscript troops, draftees. As opposed to American draftees of old, who got months of training before shipping out, a lot of Russian conscripts get less than a week of drill with fake weapons and are sent to the front. And how are they doing?
The Russians have already lost more troops in a month in Ukraine than they did after a decade in Afghanistan, over 15,000 men. We’ve all seen the Twitter videos of Russian troops claiming they had no idea what they were doing in Ukraine, of armor troops broken down by the side of the road, and of motivated Ukrainians defending their homeland rounding Ivan up like lost sheep.
Why is this happening? Lack of training, morale, and legitimate mission. To put it simply, a good number of these Russian troops do not want to be there. In the ancient gripe of militaries of all nations and circumstances, “I didn’t sign up for this sh**.”
So think about the Russian cannon fodder before you back a return to the draft. Yes, it would probably be beneficial to many American young men. But our military doesn’t need the influx of coerced troops. And anyway, conservative social engineering is still social engineering and that is not the primary mission of any military organization.
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I was coerced to go to Vietnam. I don’t want anyone to have to go to war.
David, this is “the perfect article.” Congratulations on a mini-essay par excellence. We are witnessing the degradation of the American youth. It has been going on for decades and hit the throttle with social media’s invasive play into our society. While not possible considering the current constraints, I aver that a return to civilized society—responsible society—is a must if we are to exist as a free nation. First step: Prosecuting everyone involved in the crimes being executed upon the youth. The lion’s share is being perpetrated by the Democrat Party with its socialist/communist agenda. But Democrats are only acting on orders. It is the Global Elite (again, the lion’s share is right here in the U.S.) who must be brought to order and pay the price. Beautiful article, D.