The Draft, Past and Future

Sometimes I agree, sometimes I get irritated when people say the all-volunteer force is superior to the combined RA-US United States Army. RA was the regular army and US was our designation, which we had to scream upon entering the Basic Training mess hall. The US label meant DRAFTEE.
After training, the only difference was the intense complaining we had to endure from the RA guys, because they were in for 3 or 4 years and we were in for two years.
in Vietnam, the RA guys sort of envied us, because we were all the same, except most of us could leave the Army after our one year tour and they had to go to Germany or wherever for at least another year.
Without the draft, I would not be the same person. I would not have been able to spend nearly a year near Monterey, California nor had the experience of living in a war zone in Vietnam.
I did feel cheated when I came back and the people that avoided the service had a jump start on life, maybe a couple years towards a bachelors degree or two years seniority in the union down at the auto plant, but those things even out in the course of time.
You folks know that WBushCo is not my favorite president. It's all his fault we need more troops for this 'The Surge'. We needed guys to sacrifice themselves in the jungles of Vietnam and the factories and construction companies were raided and the young men given M-16s (weapons) and sent to do their best.
In spite of my opposition to conscripted service, in spite of my opposition to WBushCo's folly in Iraq, if a military draft comes to be, a lot of young people will be afforded an opportunity they otherwise would miss, and that is seeing firsthand how really rotten this country's foreign policy in regards to unjust invasions is.