Well hello draft!

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The Draft: My Son's Life For A Corporate Owner's Increased Profit

Draft Discussions Are Increasing and I Have a Teenage Son

Over the last six months, I've noticed a marked increase in main stream media sound bites and alternative web press articles about the return of the draft in the U.S.. Today, there is another article on buzzflash.com about the draft. Apparently, Arizona is now automatically registering every male over 18 for selective service when they apply for an ID card or drivers license (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5443.htm). Arizona and 30 other states want to be ready for the draft when it comes.

I'm disturbed! Since I was a single mother on welfare when the 1998 welfare reforms hit California, I know first hand that American leaders do not value my son's life. I was a college student in the 90's and Governor Pete Wilson sent messages every few months that my son was unwanted baggage. When Pete Wilson reduced welfare payments, he sent me a loud message. Every time I got an "A" in another class, I was rewarded by a cut in my welfare check because I was supposedly "sitting on the couch drinking beer and eating popcorn while watching TV rather than working like everyone else." In fact, i was working part-time, attending college full-time, and taking care of a hyperactive young boy with no help and no child support. Again, in 1998, I had the final blow from Congress. When I was a senior at UCI, the federal government passed sweeping welfare reforms that totally took away any aid I received. I went totally broke to stay in school and get my BA. My credit is still stained by that government action. They sent the message loud and clear. The welfare cuts said "you and your son are worthless baggage." I received the message. I got it already!

Now, the government is working toward a law to kill my son. First, the government says my son is baggage and now they are trying to kill him. How is the government trying to kill my son, you ask? By reinstituting the draft in the United States, the government is attempting to kill my son. The war we are fighting is unjust. Even the pastors and priests for all the Bush boys have stated that this is an unjust war. Now, with increasing discussion to reinstate the draft, I'm faced with the possibility that my son will die. My son is 13. By the time the draft gets reinstated, their is a great probability that my son will be taken.

What will my son die for? My son will die for OIL COMPANY OWNER PROFIT. Every time a poor man enters the military by draft, that man's life is being hijacked so an oil company owner can protect his profits.

My son wasn't good enough for a few hundred dollars a month child support from the government social insurance program but now he is good enough to give his life for a rich man's pocket book security. My son does not want to die for someone else's profit, as he himself has stated. I do not want to give my son's life to protect an oil company's bottom line!

Draft aside, I think they should expand projects like Americorp & Teach for America-- non-military public service is a Good Thing.

The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is adamant that he will not ask Congress to authorize a draft, and officials at the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that would organize any conscription, stress that the possibility of a so-called "special skills draft" is remote.

Nonetheless, the agency has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.

"Talking to the manpower folks at the Department of Defense and others, what came up was that nobody foresees a need for a large conventional draft such as we had in Vietnam," said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System. "But they thought that if we have any kind of a draft, it will probably be a special skills draft."

Flahavan said Selective Service planning for a possible draft of linguists and computer experts began last fall after Pentagon personnel officials said the military needed more people with skills in those areas.

A targeted registration and draft "is strictly in the planning stage," he said, adding that "the whole thing is driven by what appears to be the more pressing and relevant need today" -- the deficit in language and computer experts.

no speaka iraqi ... muthafucka bush!

Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005 - The Draft will Start in June 2005

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: http://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.

Related Bills: S.89
Latest Major Action: 2/3/2003 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Executive Comment Requested from DOD.

S.89
Title: A bill to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons 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.
Sponsor: Sen Hollings, Ernest F. [SC] (introduced 1/7/2003) Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.R.163
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2003 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

SUMMARY AS OF:
1/7/2003--Introduced.
Universal National Service Act of 2003 - Declares that it is the obligation of every U.S. citizen, and every other person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a two-year period of national service, unless exempted, either as a member of an active or reserve component of the armed forces or in a civilian capacity that promotes national defense. Requires induction into national service by the President. Sets forth provisions governing: (1) induction deferments, postponements, and exemptions, including exemption of a conscientious objector from military service that includes combatant training; and (2) discharge following national service.
Amends the Military Selective Service Act to authorize the military registration of females.

Shame it aint so...

(I'm not completely sure how much I believe about Bush working to reinstate the draft - that would be a plague on the GOP in the '06 midterms.)

And the idea that the children of the rich and powerful will ever actually end up being drafted is laughable.

Women aren't eligible to be drafted, period. Only boys have to sign up for selective service when you turn 18, else you risk no financial aid, etc..

I guess I'm too cynical, I don't expect the draft to do a thing to even out the numbers. (Alternately just cynical enough)

sub-thread: who at ILX is eligible, given the norms of Vietnam-era drafts? I'll be in the right age range for a couple more years, but with two arthritic knees and no reason not to claim I'm gay, I'm safe.

*COUGHS*

SUMMARY AS OF:
1/7/2003--Introduced.
Universal National Service Act of 2003 - Declares that it is the obligation of every U.S. citizen, and every other person residing in the United States,
between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a two-year period of national service, unless exempted, either as a member of an active or reserve
component of the armed forces or in a civilian capacity that promotes national defense. Requires induction into national service by the President. Sets
forth provisions governing: (1) induction deferments, postponements, and exemptions, including exemption of a conscientious objector from military
service that includes combatant training; and (2) discharge following national service.
Amends the Military Selective Service Act to authorize the military registration of females.

We're talking about the proposed future, Milo, not the present. Do keep up.

just the name.

there's always the Texas Air National Guard.

-- hstencil (hstenci...) (webmail), May 25th, 2004 1:59 PM. (hstencil) (later) (link)

can I get out of serving just by telling them I've done acid?????????

seroiusly, does this have a chance? i'm afraid it's going to start keeping me up nights.

Keep in mind 90% of military service does NOT involve yearlong trips to hostile desert countries.

I've known asthmatics that were in the military and did just fine. There are lots and lots and lots of jobs that don't require you to be able to kill people or run around with full rucksacks and rifles all the time. It depends on how serious your ailments are and how they affect you.

I knew a guy who was 6'2" and about 130 when he came in to the AF, they put him on double rations throughout basic training. Don't know if he got extra time to eat, though.

We must scare him up. He's been posting.

yeah my dad was in the Navy in '68 but fortunately wasn't sent to Nam to die along with the 75-80% of those on swift boats that did.

"Keep in mind 90% of military service does NOT involve yearlong trips to hostile desert countries."

i'm sure that's true but it's the military...culture as much as the military service that terrifies me. i'm quite sure i'm not cut out for any of it. namby-pamby + abhorer of authority - not a good combo for the army, i should think.

i dunno, i could probably support this if it was part of a course that would end with the poor actually having plenty of easy, decent career opportunities other than the army (even though the procedure would be backwards), but, well, it's not.

2. It does end up with the poor having plenty of easy, decent career opoortunities if they play their cards right and act smart and don't get in a bunch of trouble. Ask a ton of people I know personally or best of all ask my dad.

i'm not sure we're on the same page here. i'm talking about completely non-military careers: if the military is largely made up of a discontented and/or desperate working class, and the working class (through the introduction of some hypothetical left-wing measures, say) suddenly become content (or more content), the # of bodies in the army is going to drop sharply. the right of course wouldn't stand for that so the appeasement would be conscription. obviously that's not going to happen, but at least it would be conscription for a positive purpose instead of a negative one.

that may not be well-thought out at all but that's what i was thinking when isaid whut i said. also if conscription happens, most or all of those "college paid for" type benefits would go away, right?

Same here. I'll just hide under my bed, though.

Ooooh, YUM...oh wai

-- latebloomer (posercore24...), May 25th, 2004.

Wanna run away wiz meeeeee? *wink wink* I'm gonna need someone to keep me warm during the cold cold winters.

But this will remain the case under conscription. Those who have the cultural and financial resources to get into college will avoid military service. The middle class, with access to greater educational resources and more support throughout college will be given a way out. Clearly this is also a problem for minority communities where acceptance to college is lower and the drop-out rate is higher.

Anyway, I doubt this legislation will pass. If it does you guys should smash everything up...

Rumors of reinstating the military draft, which have flourished for months in panicky e-mails, online chat rooms, college dorms and student newspapers, suddenly dominated the House floor yesterday in one of the strangest parliamentary maneuvers in memory. With even its sponsor voting against it, a bill to require young adults to perform military or civil service failed, 402 to 2.

The vote put an end to HR 163, but Democrats and Republicans signaled they will continue to accuse each other of contemplating a revival of conscription, at least through the presidential campaign's final month, and probably as long as U.S. troops are in Iraq.

A weird world, this.

House Democrat Will Seek to Reinstate Draft, Saying It Deters Politicians From Starting Wars

By JOHN HEILPRIN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 under a bill the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee says he will introduce next year.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars.

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way," Rangel said.

Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, has said the all-volunteer military disproportionately puts the burden of war on minorities and lower-income families.

Rangel said he will propose a measure early next year. While he said he is serious about the proposal, there is little evident support among the public or lawmakers for it.