Where are the patriots? Economics may force a draft.
Presidential candidate, Senator (R-AZ), and Vietnam veteran and POW John McCain thinks the all-volunteer force may have run its course.
McCain acknowledged that maintaining the all-volunteer force that has existed since 1972 is becoming more costly and that costs have yet to peak because it could take further significant bonuses and other incentives to convince current service members to stay in and youths to join up in a wartime environment.McCain also questions the dedication of today's young patriots, many of whom have declined the honor of service.
“We are going to have to up the ante,” McCain said. “The all-volunteer force costs money. It is a marketplace out there.”
McCain acknowledged that some people serve for patriotic reasons while others look at different incentives, but he said he is convinced that the services can continue to recruit and retain enough high-quality people, even with an increase in Army and Marine Corps active-duty personnel that is a key element of McCain’s national security agenda if he is elected president.At the same time, if there were a draft, McCain is concerned that those who are opting out of volunteering now would find a way to avoid the call, even under conscription.
A military draft will never work until there is a way to ensure that the children of wealthy families serve, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Vietnam veteran and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
“Before I would even have remote consideration for it, someone has to tell me how rich people are forced to serve along with poor people. Rich people can always find a doctor who can say they have a bad knee,” McCain said Monday in a meeting with Military Times editors and reporters.The easy solution to this is for those who support the war, many of whom are young, healthy, and heterosexual, to show their mettle and enlist. While the armed services may have met their goals in the most recent recruiting period, that success comes with a price tag: the well-off should be willing able to man up without financial incentives.
“You can call it a lottery or call it a banana; rich people get out of the draft,” he said. “I am not ready to go back to a totally unfair system where we ask the poorest people in this country to serve.”
Operation Yellow Elephant salutes those who have done their bit and re-upped for more and urges those who have so far cheered from the sidelines to Be a Man and Enlist!
Technorati Tags: OperationYellowElephant
posted by a progressive crank @ 10/17/2007 12:15:00 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
The Volunteer Military is already unfair to poor families, even if it is strictly volunteer. Everyone knows that the rich by and large do not serve in the military. Oh sure, many exceptions exist, such as Admiral Mike Mullen whose parents were in the movie business. John McCain's sons are also in the service but they are fast becoming a very rare breed.
If Senator McCain really wants to Support Our Troops, he would support repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and welcome honorable service by real American patriots of all sexual orientations.
As long as Senator McCain insists on a heterosexuals-only U.S. military, well, I'm not sympathetic.
Although he and his family deserve respect for their military service to our nation, Senator McCain is nevertheless a political Yellow Elephant who lacks the courage of his convictions.
Why is it that McCain says "Be a man" and enlist? There is no reason for our young men to "serve our country" any more than our young women.
A militay draft would never work anyhow. There is a new "patriotism" emerging.....the American people are more and more realizing that war is terrorism. Our young children are being taught the truth....America has made huge mistakes. Even if some conscription is placed on such draft (not likely, an all volunteer force has existed since the 70's)today's young people are not likely to sign up tomorrow. Thank God, that's the best that could happen to this country.
Maybe some day America will not be looked at as the biggest terrorist of any industrialized nation.
Post a Comment
<< Home