Ever since the first war involving America started, there have been countless discussions on who should fight for our country. There are talks of age, gender, and if the service should be voluntary or not. In America, serving is voluntary, although, in other countries, it is not. The service should stay voluntary in America because if not, it would go against freedom and it would be a source of newfound problems within our country. Also, if youth took off two years of their lives to serve, they would not gain experience to work in the fields that need more work force.
In America, we live by the idea of freedom. When one thinks about freedom, America comes to mind. The stars and the stripes. The Declaration of Independence. The found fathers. We have created the ultimate "land of the free", our national anthem even embodies the idea. Freedom means having your own voice, and being able to do what makes you happy. Forcing young men and women to take out two years of their lives to serve for our military is not even close to following the idea of a free country. We have the right to choose what field we want to work in, and we should have the freedom to do so.
Forcing any person to do anything will, if not initially, ultimately cause feelings of, for lack of better words, hate. Furthermore, trying to control someone will almost always end in rebellions. If we take our history books, world or American, we see example of this everywhere. Women rebelling in the 1920s against conservative ways, slaves who broke free, the Philippines revolting against the Spanish, the list goes on and on with protests, uprisings, ext cetera. Forcing our youth to serve will only end in citizens doing anything to avoid it. Many families with young children...
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... scarred and possibly physically, also. Trying to take off right where you left off may not be possible. Take into consideration a young boy who wants to be a firefighter but who serves two years beforehand. Imagine that during the fighting, he loses his legs. His dreams of being a firefighter will never be fulfilled, not because of a choice, because he was forced to put himself in danger.
The way conscription is described is that it requires every young man or woman to serve in the military service for two years. In this description, "requires" is only a euphemism for "forcing". A requirement simply means it is not optional, which is exactly what forcing includes. Demanding that a young person change his or her life is immoral and should not be added to our society. Even if our country did not have freedom as our foundation, conscription would still be an iniquity.
..., the draft ended and the U.S. converted to an All-Volunteer military. Many people were not in high spirits about the Vietnam War, and thought we should not be involved in it. Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, laments “[w]e are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves” (Vietnam-Facts.info). There is a popular picture of a draft protests sign displaying the words “hell no, we won’t go.” I do believe Americans should have a right to choose to go to war or not. Many young men lost their life fighting a battle they didn’t even have faith in. Many soldiers endured personal hardships, loss of income, and leaving family behind. Most of drafted soldiers complied with the draft and served; however, many middle to high-class young men found ways to avoid combat.
The Duty of Americans to Their Country and Themselves (Reinstating the Draft for the American People) The American military draft was put into affect in 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act. The draft was a system that was an involuntary requirement of those who were of age and proper health. Young American men between the ages of eighteen and twenty five who were in good health and of a stable mental state were required by the government to register.
“First, conscription doesn’t save much cash. It costs money to manage and enforce a draft- history demonstrates that not every inductee would go quietly. Conscripts serve shorter terms and reenlist less frequently, increasing turnover, which is expensive. And unless the government instituted a Czarist lifetime draft, everyone beyond the first ranks would continue to expect to be paid” (Forbes). Even though “The military not only provides training in a range of specialties; it also offers educational benefits for veterans-- including many from underprivileged back grounds-- that might not be available under a mandatory
Over forty years has passed since the United States inducted the last draftee through the Selective Service System. The Selective Service System is an independent agency of the United States, which gives the President the right or power to conscript men for military service. There have been different Acts passed by congress since 1917 that require men of various ages to register for service. Although, the name of each Act and the age requirements of the registries changed, the Acts were all similar in nature. They all gave the President the right to call men to war when he deemed necessary. In January 1973, Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced the creation of the all-volunteer service, retracting the need for the draft (GAO.gov). Under current law, all men between the ages of 18-25 must register within 30 days of their 18th birthday, however this information is used mostly for recruitment purposes and in case of any future crisis. There has been much controversy over this matter since the Vietnam War, when people started to realize the draft was unfair due to loopholes and draft exemptions making the draft unfair for working men. At one point in time the military draft may have been necessary, but today’s all-volunteer military has eliminated the need for a draft.
The Conscription Act delivered the final straw in the long list of discrepancies, the catalyst that turned that small forest fire into a raging inferno of hate and fear. The white working class (mostly Irish immigrants) were infuriated, they couldn’t understand how they, white, hard-working voters were being punished. The government was forcing them to fight a war they didn’t support and the only way they could avoid it was to pay 300 dollars (a years wages for most), yet they would pay African Americans 1,000 dollars for volunteering. The new federal draft conditions also expanded to include a wider age range of men it would take. “The conscription law targeted men between the ages of 20 and 35, and all unmarried men up to age 45.” Adding to the already high tensions of laborers, since the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation they ...
There are plenty of arguments for why the draft is wrong and unlawful, or even unconstitutional. When it comes down to basics, sending people involuntarily to war does sound pretty far from freedom of choice, but there is more to it than that. Understanding that it is a free country is one thing, but freedom comes at a price. Everyone wants to be free but not everyone realizes that there are times when we must fight to maintain our well-earned freedom. It is impossible in some cases to fight a full- blown war with just a volunteer army, and if it threatens our freedom, than we must fight the war with volunteers and draftees alike. In technicality, it may be wrong, but realistically, there are many times when a draft really is needed, and if run the correct way, it can be very effective.
People who support the military draft will say that it is the obligation of every citizen of the United States, and every other person residing in the United States, who is between the ages of 18 and 42, to perform a period of national service. Aren?t there many other ways--less deadly ways--to contribute to the country?s well being? Should we, as citizens, be allowed to evade this ultimate obligation by turning it over to the poorer members of society, those who can't find good-paying jobs or training except in the military? In "A War for Us, Fought by Them," William Broyles, a Vietnam war veteran and the father of a young man who is a soldier in the Marines, argues that the military draft should be brought back, and this time it should be done right: everybody should be drafted, not just ?the profoundly patriotic or the economically needy" (Broyles 695).
Generally, reinstating the Constitutional draft would solidify the meaning of being an American citizen. Often, wealthier and more privileged people are able to ask for exemption from serving, which makes representation of soldiers in combat composed of less-privileged citizens. With compulsory conscription, all American citizens, men or women, ages 18-26 are subject to be recruited for the armed forces. In fact, only 4 members of the 107th Congress who voted in favor of the Iraq war had children serving there. Politicians would know how it feels to have loved ones in a war, instead of freely speaking about wartime without experiencing it in any way.1 Moreover, Americans feel that public support for war in foreign countries is not strong because the soldiers fighting are p...
The draft forces American citizens to work for the military in complete disregard to the individuals own actions, wants, needs, occupation, or goals. The famous "For the people" in the United States Constitution itself should safeguard the way of American life from that of the draft. The act of forcing individual citizens to join the armed forces, a potentially fatal occupation, should not be, or every have been, condoned by that of the American Government, the ones who are sworn to do their best for the people of the Unites States of America as a whole. Is the Military Draft somehow not unconstitutional, and if any case it’s not, how? The freedoms we citizens are promised in the Unites States Constitution should protect us from the reinstallation of the Draft.
Although the United States has replaced a partially drafted army with an all-volunteer army, the Selective Service System stills allows men to be drafted if the military is too small (Olson-Raymer, par. 48-50). When the United States invaded Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Americans voluntarily enlisted (par. 55). Despite this, military personnel claimed that there was a shortage of soldiers, and a draft would be beneficial in the war effort (Thompson, par. 7). Fortunately, the draft remained and still remains unnecessary. Whenever a draft has been implemented in the United States, controversy has ensued. Some people think a draft
I know your belief in conscription is a big thing but in a way it is a cruel thing. Against someone’s will sending him or her away to fight in a war that they may not believe in in the first place. Conscription in a war where fighting for your country is a good cause however fighting for someone’s beliefs is completely different.
...itary conscription in the name of freedom is an illegitimate, criminal organization. A government that is willing to enslave people cannot be trusted to protect your liberty. A government that forces people to fight for its goals, its protection, and its benefit has created a morally perverse situation where there is no free society left to defend” (Boldin). Another thing we must look at is without an overflow of troops; “unpopular wars are very difficult to fight. The ability to use conscription actually encourages politicians to wage even more wars;the massive resources are a temptation that is hard for the war-lover to resist. When the draft was finally undermined in the 1970′s, for example, the Vietnam War ended” (Boldin).
More than two decades ago, President Nixon ended the military draft. Now a new and more menacing form of enlistment is threatening our school systems. This enlistment I am speaking of is that we are forcing "community service" to be a requirement for high school graduation.
In conclusion, people should not think too much about what they will do with their lives. The United States government and its magnificent military should be the invisible hand that guides every able adult in the nation. It will good for the people as it will ensure every person gains valuable skills and an opportunity to succeed in the world. It will also ensure that their families will be taken care of, removing most of the responsibility from the nation’s social services. That money would best be spent on the new recruit’s uniform!
Mandatory military service is a course to make a fit and capable citizen. First of all, military service can help one's character . More specifically it gives good tools so that people can work well in a team, be more organized in everyday event and good discipline. Secondly, it can offer education to people in need. Furthermore it will help people in bad neighbourhoods or is living trough a thought time and give those without the means to be in a home and have a job. Thirdly but not least mandatory military service could be looked at as a dept owed to one's country, loved ones who are protected if ever needed and most important to our right to democracy.