12 Army Captains Back From Iraq Pen Op-Ed: Institute Draft Or Withdraw Immediately

What Soldier wouldn't want this? !!!

Call your representatives and get this supported!

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.3835:


We wouldn't be talking about a draft if we had DECLARED WAR AND USED OUR CONSTITUTION!

12 Army Captains Back From Iraq Pen Op-Ed: Institute Draft Or Withdraw Immediately
This has soiled some Chickenhawk shorts.

Obviously, when young people are no longer
willing to volunteer to 'face death' for the
greater glory of US & GWB', despite all the great
financial incentives & such, the right thing
to do is round them up & force them to serve.

Or maybe 'Plan B': we just bring our people home. That could work!

'There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.' - from the WaPo article

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(By the way, young Captains, you're too young to know about this, perhaps.
With the Draft, you also get the Fragging, also known as 'Bad Morale')

Well said and written.
Your life experience is in your knowledge about the Draft under the door. It is glorified slavery built with the biggest and most horrible of lies.

There was a whole generation who went to VietNam filled with the government lies. Most returned with ruined lives.

They had been used as cannomn fadder and their country was not there for them after it was over.


The only reason there was not a bloody revolution against the American Government was because they had been conditioned to not use their expertise with weapons and explosives against the mother land. they had been sublimenully conditioned before they were sent to VietNam by their own military because the American military feared the consequences from a million trained of their own.

Obviously phony soldiers one and all. (Sarcasm intended)

WHY ISN'T THIS ARTICLE THe HEADLINE POST ON HUFFPO?

It should be the top headline and remain so until our forces are withdrawn from Iraq.

The lack of higher numbers of soldiers dead is what the media and administration is using to gauge success in Iraq. I guess the huge amounts of money going to pay off the guys in charge of their areas and the idea that the really bad guys are ust moving their terrorism a little outside wher the troups are makes the media look like they walk on mainstrret USA. This is all fraud and little more than arcade games like whack a mole and real blood being bled. I agree we need to stand up and demand the congress reinstate the draft so this war will stop. Even the most stupid republican with the crap covered noses don't want to face citizens that look just like them but with kids being drafted for harms way. Of course many already know the ropes on how to get out of the draft because their daddies did fine jobs of keeping them from Vietnam and those who served already have kids in the military. There seems to be no other way for the republicans so close to bush he wipes his crappy hands on them when he does the toilet stick to wake up and smell bush and cheney. I found years ago they have never minded one bit the lies the administration has told and continues to tell us to keep us in a war of lies and graft. Are Blackwater and the other "phoney" guys with guns againest the Geniva convention yes they are mercenaries so they can get the hell out before other vountries call our government to task and the world court will be where bush and cheney have their last stand. We need to stop the war and start funding the programs for our own needs.

(Continued)--

It's never like the brochure, right? Being in the military in peacetime was so much easier. The biggest focus was a mission readiness exercise at a training center. But now everything is geared toward Iraq"shorter dwell times, long deployments, long hours, surging.

This is no complaint, but when you are a Captain in the Army, mid/late-twenties with a lot of drive, maybe the Army doesn"t sound like the best place anymore. I have several friends who are Captains and will get out shortly. Common trends? Frustration, disenchantment, tired of deployments, a lack of belief in the mission or in the current "solution" to fix the problems.

So there, I said my piece. So, look at the article in two perspectives. One, as an article by young Army officers who don"t believe in the mission anymore and/or don"t believe in the method; and secondly, as article an article written by I"m sure young and talented military officers who had a lot to offer the Army, but somewhere along the way were turned-off by the current situation. Another casualty of the war"young and talented officers leaving the service all too early.

It was interesting to read this article considering my current situation:

1) I'm a Captain in the U.S. Army
2) I was in Iraq (Baghdad) in 2004.
3) I'm in Iraq right now for the surge.

I've been told that the Army is run by Captains. We are the senior company-grade officers, the officers who are at the point of the spear, making things happen, leading and training young soldiers and LT's.

I remember one time when I disagreed with a senior officer--I was called a "young" Captain. In many ways, the Army is about paying your dues. You've got to stay in, put up with the requisite BS, and then it is your turn.

These Captains are mostly right in their assessment--the corruption is horrible, there is a complete lack of capability of the government to effectively manage basic services. Governance at the local level is pitiful--very little power and no real representation to the people (at least in my slice of Baghdad).

There is some bitterness/sourness I think too with the Captains. If these guys are like me right now, they were probably burned-out, overworked, disenchanted by the system, and the results.

There some very bright people who choose to become Army Officers. They work hard to obtain their college degree and get their commission. Becoming an officer is a really big deal when one thinks about it. I think these guys were like me--they joined up, took the oath, and then showed-up to Iraq. And then realized what everything was all about.

As someone who experienced the Draft let me say this to those of you who think that the Draft is a good idea and it will end this War.

The Draft is a holdover from the Roman days. It is call inscription and it is a form of slavery. This is what a State must resort to when it begins to have Wars that are not popular with the citizens. Conscription provides the State with the necessary bodies to carry out its policies both internally and externally. Kent State and Newark, NJ are examples of it being used internally while Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan are examples of external use. Bluntly put, the purpose of the Draft is to provide more cannon fodder for old men who know they won't have to fight and die.

The notion that the Draft will somehow end this war is absurd. It took 8 years and 58,000 plus deaths in Viet Nam before the American public got riled enough to take to the streets. It will take a lot more than that to getr this generation out of the SUV's, off their couches, and out of in front of the Plasma TV's where the wart is not shown to do anything about this quagmire.

The people who tout the Draft fall into 2 catagories. One, those that don't understand the implications and consequences of the Draft. And second, those that will not be affected by the Draft because they are too old or have no children, or know that they have the money and/or power to be exempt from it. And the people who will write the Draft Law will make sure that they and theirs will have exemptions. Remember, this War was brought to you buy people who never served in the last War. Think about it.

Seymour Hersch said it perfectly. There are only 2 things to do to end this War. Bring all the troops home tomorrow night or bring all the troops home the following night. Anything else will just cause things to keep getting worse!

The

Draft Young College Republicans.

Interesting that this piece hasn't received more attention.

It's been obvious for some time now that the military -- who were opposed to this Iraq invasion in the first place -- have had quite enough of these reckless foreign adventures.

I'm ready for Seven Days in October.

I agree in that I think it's time to get the hell out of Iraq.