Reinstating the Draft in June 05?

[HRslammR]

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/...ua_congressorg

There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.

$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan - fiscal year 2004.

The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.

Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.

Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era.

College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.

Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a
shelter and includes women in the draft.




i'm sorry. but i won't be going into that. i refuse to fight in something i don't believe in. i'm all for the military and the people in it. and before people start pointing out that it's a predominantly democrat sponsored bill. i ain't going if i don't believe in it even if it's Jesus, Dr. King, and Ghandi all rolled into one.

[Lycanthrope]

I suggest a mass no-fight policy. They can force us anywhere, but they can't make us fight. Why the hell are they even doing this? We have reserves up the yin-yang!

Reguardless, I doubt I'm alone in saying that there is no earthly or spiritual way that they can possibly get me. I'm dead serrious in that I will not touch a gun, even for my own life. The worst they can do is kill me.

hmm... this isn't the first time I've heard some of this, but even so, I have some concenrs.

1) I haven't heard about it on NPR, a which is the sorce I know of that is most accurate and least likely to be tainted one way or the other by government influence or reactionary paranoia. Basically, this is a big issue, so why haven't I heard anything about it except online?
2) According to the link that DarthZeth posted on an earlier thread on this subject, we have absolutely no need for a draft.
3) Are they stupid? One of the largest voting blocks is the Vietnam generation, and there are very few people of that time period who like the draft.

Edit: Well. It appears to be real. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00163:

[Futae No Kiwami]

gay. thats all I have to say about this. This is gay.

[Otaku Son]

I say it's about time women start getting drafted. However, my time has been served, so I don't need to worry about anything.

Didn't someone once mention the government doesn't cut off bloodlines?

And, if anything else, go to Mexico! We have two countries on our borders, y'know!

[Dante]

If the draft in the States is anything like the National Service over here... well, all I can say that it's going to suck big time.

[JoeCB]

The weird thing is, Right now in the Navy, we are practily throwing people out and limiting numbers of people comming in.

I guess the army just needs some cannon fodder in the reservers.

What am i saying, the reserves are cannon fodder.

Also congerss has done nothign with thoes bills for over a year.
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2003 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
and the senate armedservace committee has nothign on it.

[MP37a]

This is ridiculous. We have no need for a draft system. And now by saying that education holds no prevalence over this is sad.

I'm not that worried about it. If I get drafted I'll go but I think this isn't fair to others. I'm starting to feel really disappointed for people considering this.

[Martyr]

Yeah, I really don't think we need to draft. This is a little bothersome.

But, if I get drafted, I guess I'll get going. Who knows, maybe it'll give me some stories to tell when I'm seventy years old.
Besides, I've been on a little bit of a guilt trip for not joining the army. I went to college because I was real smart, and I got into a good school. But even still, cowardice is cowardice, however you look at it. People are dying out there, and it's probably my fault.

Edit: Plus, I have no idea what this means. All I know is that myt dad talks about how there was nobody, when he was young, who didn't know somebody who died in Vietnam. So I guess it means we're all going into Iraq to fight.
Or be cannon fodder, as somebody said.
That's the case, right?

Oh yeah, and that draft recruits really are cannon fodder. Like they all die because they don't have the proper training and ranking as soldiers who joined voluntarily earlier on.

[Viper Daimao]

odd that these two bills were introduced by Democrats. Representative Charles B. Rangel.D - NY, and Senator Ernest Hollings D - SC. odd that one of the main reasons for opposition to the vietnam war was the draft.

we've had this paranoid discussion before here and a good reply as to why the draft wont happen here



edit: the same senator hollings who argued that we went to Iraq because of the Jews

[JoeCB]

that was more of a scarcastic comment than anything, But more reservists die than us active duty guys, partly because of our better training, and partly because of luck.

in the Seabee community we have has 8 deaths, 7 reserve and 1 active.
the onbe active guy killed himself playing with UXO and 2 reservests died ifroma land mine the other 5 form a morat attack. all the restevists were form NMCB 14 and had been in Iraq less thatn 2 weeks. In the previous year 3 or 4 thousand seabees deployed to Iraq with only the one casualty. So its a bit of luck and a bit of job requirement and a bit od training all goes into weather you die or not. but the ratio od live peopel to dead people is a good one, defentally not as bad as Nam.