To bad it took McCain 70 years to finally learn that M.L.K was an important figure in American history. McCain is a 70 year old politician who has sat in Washington for 26 years and admits to not know much about the economy...sounds like he has been riding the clock for quite sometime.
I'm in favor of a draft, but that's only because I don't have kids and I have an out if I want to jump. But I worry that since we aren't a true democracy, a draft really means "force undesirables" to fight our wars while the people in power can support a war and not risk sacrifice.
That's a pretty ignorant statement. I have a best friend that was bringing home near 7 figures annually that's enlisted, and a cousin bringing in a solid 6 figures that decided to go back in and then went career... Are 6 and 7 figure incomes "undesirables?" And since when did the soldiers fighting currently, by and large, have to be there because they were a lower class? If anything the troops we have right now are the most consistently educated and well off financially that we've ever had... and it's even more obvious if you compare them to the military of another nation. One or two -maybe just one- has the quality of commitment and level of education and successes outside of military service that the current US military has.
The one possible thing that this draft will bring is... 1). Civil uprising. Protests against the idea nationwide. Then McCain will have to take action. Riot control. Part 2). Civil uprising will still continue. McCain has had enough, he orders towns and cities be put under temporary martial law. Part 3). McCain changes America into a Facist country.
Personally, if there was a constitutional reason to declare war against another nation, and congress voted constitutionally to declare war, then a military draft might be appropriate. But to fight these so called 'conflicts/wars' that are nothing more than greed/power issues, ie. money, resources etc. fought for wealthy elite men who think they can use the US to further their wealth and power; is not only unconstitutional, it is immoral. And to further spill the blood of brave American soldiers to secure their blood money is treasonous. There is no threat to our national security at stake in the middle east and there is certainly no need to declare war unprovoked against any nation at this time. We have no business butting into Euro-Asian affairs and our military should be protecting our shores and not multi-national global interests that are not American interests in the least. The saddest part of these wars is that patriotic young men and women give the ultimate sacrifice for greedy selfish elitists and their global power agendas. Get the troops out of Iraq and pull them out of Alfganistan also. The terror cells can only be defeated covertly and that's where the resources should be focused. The CIA and military intelligence can disrupt terrorists to the point of toppling their power base through control of intelligence, communications, economics and by initiating strategic strikes. I am totally against a draft to fight the kind of war we are fighting in Iraq in any other area including Iran. I have a close friend who is high up in special forces in the Air Force. He told me quote not to worry he had 'very high level' intelligence concerning huge storage of WMD's in Iraq back during the invasion. He told me that it would all come out, they would find these massive Al Queda training bases and these massive caches of WMDs. He was dead wrong. Do you know why he was wrong? Because dedicated officers like him are thoroughly trained to believe whatever their commanders tell them. They would die for what they are told. He kind of admitted he was wrong, but I wouldn't dare bring up the issue to such a sincere Air Force officer. If I wanted to know why we invaded a country like Iraq the last person I would ask is someone in the military. They are going to believe from the heart whatever they are told. They are the easiest people to deceive because they are trained to respond with that kind of dedication and loyalty to the 'mission' I feel for our soldiers who believe they are protecting our national security. I have several friends over in Iraq, men from our church, and they all believe just what they are told as far as 'why'. This is just plain wrong. It's time to rebuild our national character and integrity- get rid of these multi-nationalists, global elitists who care more about money than America. And care little for the lives of our soldiers. I cannot understand how we can be so brainwashed to think we did the right thing in invading another nation that posed no threat to our security and there was no constitutional declaration of war by congress against that nation and the president thought he had enough power to do it with or without congress. We have sunk to the lowest as a constitutional republic. I am all for fighting to defend our country, but these global police actions are terrible. We are not the United Nations, we are the United States of America and we should act like it. Guess no one needs to wonder how I feel about it.
So, the amount of money you make indicates whether or not you're desirable or not? Mike Tyson made a lot of money.
This statement is demonstrably untrue. Lowering of standards due to Bush's wars has had the opposite effect. The army has documented evidence of this - aptitiude scores for recent classes have been drastically lower. Do you wish me to embarrass you with supporting evidence? Y/N? This is like beating on a two-year old so I'm going to give you the option to withdraw.
you know someone who enlisted that makes close to 7 figures i.e. nearly a million dollars a year in the army?
I'm genuinely curious about this statement. Here's a link to the monthly pay chart for enlisted military: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/fy2008paycharts/a/bpayenlless.htm Unless he gets $900K in incentives, allowances, and imminent danger pay, I don't know how any enlisted military would get close to $1M annually. An officer might be a different story, but even an O-10 with 40 years of service maxes out at around $200K a year in base pay. Honest question. I'm enlisting in the Navy next year with a starting pay grade of E-4 and I only expect to make around $25K if living on base, $35K if living off base. It doesn't seem like pay increases based on promotions and years of service are large enough to ever get up to 7 figures.
IROC it is not saying he made 7 figures in the military, but that he was making close to 7 figures before enlisting.
I think mandatory service would be awesome. Either Civilian Conservation Corps, Inner City Education, Peace Corps or the military. Your choice. Plenty of democracies have it and it works well. Ironically I think it would have a negative consequence on our military readiness/capability since an all volunteer group is more efficient and effective, but overall I'd take the downside for the upside.
I wouldn't be against this. And actually, as long as you gave people the opportunity to serve in non-militaristic service and leave the army and such as volunteer, I think it'd help the military, cause I could see many people make the transition from mandatory service to a lifetime of service.
I don't think anyone should be faulted for enlisting, or serving in the military; they should be the most respected and honored of our citizens. They are fighting for us. The question is are they fighting for what is right or American? We pray for our soldiers and we want them to be successful. We care about them. But I don't confuse patriotism with politics. I don't think we did the right thing in Iraq. IROC- is a good poster and I believe is standing for what he believes are the good in our military and strategy. I can support that.
Wrong. The kids going into Army and USMC these days are lower class. Those who cannot afford college or are going for the signing bonus. With a draft you have a more representative sample of america. Please explain how an enlisted can make over 1 million per year.
That's not what IROC said. But I too agree mandatory service with a choice of how to serve is an interesting idea to explore.