Cassi Creek: Today is
the anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
Washington fought the American Revolution using poorly paid
volunteers. From the Revolution to the
Civil War all our soldiers, sailors, and Marines were volunteers.
The Civil War
ushered in Conscription and subsequent riots.
However, conscripts could actually buy their way out of the war by
paying someone else to take their place in the army.
Following the
Civil War, the military was once again an all-voluntary force which absorbed
many immigrants who needed jobs and found them in the army and navy of a nation
still expanding internally and imperially as a result of land conquests, purchase,
and acquisitions via the Spanish American War.
The onset of
WWI brought about a draft to meet the sudden need in men in uniform. WWII required even larger scale
conscription. VietNam began with the
Cold War draft and ended with a lottery that was intended to alleviate
resistance to the universal obligation for national service for all male
citizens.
The end of the
VietNam War brought about the “All Volunteer Armed Forces. There remain many arguments for and against
such a force. The great leveling effect
of mandatory national service remains unequalled. While the proponents of the all-volunteer
force claim that the internal make up mirrors the demographics of the nation at
large, there are major problem that concern me.
The growth of
mercenary armies for hire, composed of former members of the U.S. forces deeply
concerns me, as does our government’s use of such ‘’’private contractors” to round
out the active duty forces. Concomitant
to “private contractors” is the disturbing evangelical makeup of some of the
Army and Air Force units, including their service academies. I have heard and read too many times about
the concept of our armed forces fighting for Christianity. If for no other reasons than to eliminate
those situations, I think that, a national service requirement for all citizens
should be reinstated.
“Summer time done come and gone, my, oh. my!
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