Sept 25, 2023 Mises Institute
The US Military Is Laying the Groundwork to Reinstitute the Draft
Zachary Yost
“Obviously, the reintroduction of conscription is an extremely disturbing prospect given America’s propensity for getting involved in meaningless wars that accomplish nothing other than empowering our enemies, killing and maiming our soldiers, and wasting vast resources.”
The Draft
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
Understandable why young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
We were told we needed to send troops to Vietnam.
Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
Some may have become skeptical along the way.
An excellent article here:
Sept 25, 2023 By Christopher Roach
The prosperous, homogeneous, and high-trust America of the 1960s—one where most of the families had two parents, and the dads were World War II veterans—nearly tore itself apart over the Vietnam-era draft. That cultural conflict cast a long shadow and discouraged military adventurism for many years. It is impossible to believe that the disunited, fragmented, and multicultural America of today would support a draft to pursue a high-casualty war of attrition for some abstract goal like “the balance of power in Europe” or “open shipping lanes in the South China Sea.”
“Right now, Americans are mostly indifferent to their empire because it does not demand anything of them. Some even have a positive view, thinking it keeps us safe. But if American Empire now means you, your son, or (God forbid!) your daughter is being drafted to protect some place no one has ever heard of, the American people will immediately turn hostile.”
“If a draft is required to maintain the American Empire, we should consider other modes of coexistence with the rest of the world that do not depend on oversized American military power, because a draft is impossible in today’s America.”
Reality Check
The US Dept of Defense spent the last 30 years squandering prestige and credibility overseas and at home. Currently serving four-star officers and high level DOD civilians have been associated with what wars won by the US?
Some Americans may be asking:
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
Has dressing women to look like men had any positive or negative impact on recruiting?
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Any college or pro football coach would have been fired a dozen times over for what DOD has done with the US Armed Forces during the fake GWOT era.
Fake GWOT?
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was invented after the catastrophic military failure of 911. The idea was to keep bad people from coming to the US to do bad things/attempt another 911, etc.
Wouldn’t the giant War on Terror be a cartel drug trafficker’s worst nightmare?
Related:
Uniparty No Good For Confidence in US Armed Forces?
Random Thoughts – Recruiting Crisis
Hostile Forces in Distant Lands
Most And Least Meaningful Federal Holidays
The country struggles with:
Possibly of interest:
Below, are some random thoughts and questions newspeople will not ask. Our questions appear in bold type.
How Do The Troops Defend The Constitution?
Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in these areas.
Will an older generation encourage a younger generation to do time in the US Armed Forces in the years ahead?
How does Uncle Sam plan to attract young people to sign up in the years ahead?
Photo-
Symbol of a US Dept. of Defense that was irrelevant in defending American rights and freedoms, our physical security, & The Constitution on 911.
Ditto for all other federal agencies and departments.
The Dept. of Defense has a truly poor track record with undeclared wars. This record goes back to 1949, the year DOD was established.
Restoring the draft has been on the table for quite some time now, I guess the DOD just isn’t bothering to hide it anymore.
I think the failure to meet “required” recruitment numbers will just go to show the validity of the quote “all tyrannies rule through fraud and force, and when the fraud is exposed, they rely on force alone.”
It’s not going to work, take it from someone whose country still has conscription (I’m from Russia, in case you couldn’t tell, though I don’t currently live there).
By the way, I found my way here from Bracing Views.
Other than the anti-war posts, everything on that blog is complete nonsense, and I have a personal vendetta against its owner, who is also my former history professor.
Just a friendly warning.
Sasha V,
Thanks for taking a look and commenting here.
[…] “required” recruitment numbers for several years now, which is why the government is seriously considering bringing back the draft. Looks to me like this Machiavellian monstrosity isn’t as competent at dominating all aspects […]