The Easy Way, or the Hard Way...by Conscription !

The Easy Way, or the Hard Way. Volunteer, or be conscripted

It is beginning to look as if the draft will be brought back in spite of everything the military can do to prevent it. The enlistment age for Reservist has been upped to 39 years of age. The Army has missed it’s recruitment goals for the past couple of three months.

The Military does not want a draft. The last thing this country needs is soldiers in the field, more especially, in combat zones, who do not want to be there. That comes with a built in morale problem. Plus the education levels of draftees tend not to be as high as that of volunteers. With today’s modern computerized Army, a high level of education is a must.

The increased in enlistment age is bothersome as well. A 39 year old will be more cautious and take less chances that, say, a nineteen year old full of vim, vigor, and the belief that there is no bullet with his name on it. Where the 39 year old will not stick his head above the barricade to determine the location of a sniper shooting at their position, because experience tells him chances are pretty good that the snipe will hit him the instant his head pops up, the nineteen year old, having little, if any, fear of being wounded WILL stick his head up and likely locate the sniper and take him out or cause him to be taken out.

There seems not to be the level of indebtedness to the country by young people today as there was in the generation just before mine and in my generation as well. I am lodged between the “Greatest Generation” and the “Baby Boomers”. Our parents and mentors and teachers were form the Greatest Generation” and they passed that love of country on to us. They also passed along the clear understanding that we owed something to this country if for no other reason than… it was/is our home. We understood than one day we might be called upon to “man the barricades” to defend her, and it was accepted, this obligation to our fellow Americans. There seems to be a very serious lack of a feeling of obligation to one’s country there was in my generation. It seems to have ended right there.

It was understood, in my family, that when country called you would answer in the affirmative. Nearly all the male members of my family served in the armed forces of the US. It was the right thing to do and it was the honorable thing to do. This was our country and we owed a fealty to her and, we owed a debt to her that we were obligated to pay, even if it required our blood be spilt. Often it did.

There seems to be a distinct lack of that in today’s young people. When you hear a soldier say they had no idea they would have to go to war when they signed up… something is seriously wrong. Armies go to war. That is what Armies are for.

One thing is certain: Either volunteers supply our armed forces with manpower, or they will be conscripted. I feel I can guarantee that those who scoot across the border, to avoid the draft, will not get a pardon, or amnesty, from the current President, nor the next. They will be gone from their homeland forever, or, return only to reside in Federal Prison for a good portion of the remainder of their lives and will carry the stigma of “coward” the rest of their natural lives. That’s as it should be.

Often when, as a police officer, I would tell an arrestee, “we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but, in the end, you will be going with me.” My language was abit more colorful at the time. The point is, the same applies with recruitment for our Armed Forces. We can do it the easy way by volunteering, or we can do it the hard way… through conscription.

Young Americans, I ask you: Which will it be?

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”