NationStates Jolt Archive

This post is in response to a thread Capsule Corporation/Raysia made recently askign about military service. Essenially, it was asking if you'd go to war if drafted (or dodge in Canada).

The options varied (I'd go but wouldn't like it, I'd go depending on the reasons for the war, I'd dodge, etc.), yet one stuck in my mind. "Yes, I'll to serve my Country when it needs me."

I'd like you to focus on the 7'th, 8'th, 9'th, and 10'th words. To re-state: "when it needs me".

What if the country doesn't need you, yet it's in a war and you're drafted? The two are not dependent upon one another, you can be drafted even if there isn't a need for you. The survival of America wasn't dependent upon a positive outcome in the Vietnam War, yet people were drafted then. The country didn't need the drafted soldiers.

My point of this thread is not to bash the draft in General, or the Vietnam War in particular (it was merely the first war I could think of where people were drafted yet not needed for the well-being of the country), merely to clarify one part of CC/Raysia's poll. Would you go to war if drafted, but you weren't needed?

*NOTE* I in no way mean to diminish the exploits of those who served in Vietnam. I know many Vietnam vets, and I feel no shame in saying they are better men than I

Yes...yes I would

Anybody else?

If it doesn't need me? Hell no, I wouldn't let them draft me. But if I were already in the military (not sure if I will be), I would certainly do what I was told, although I'd seriously regret having made the choice to join the military (again, this is just if it was a non-essential war. If my country needed me, then I'd have no problem serving).

Yes, I would. Not happily and skipping and willfully shooting people, but I'll go.

The thing with need is this. They wont call for you unless they need you. Its like how people think well if you get called up and everyone was in theatre and you are rear gaurd they must not need you. That is not true they still need people to do tasks and continuous training/instructing back home 24/7.

I do not see a public or administration today that would want to have the draft back. With 99% of the people in the IRR still not even being called up, we are not even close to being short changed at this time.

fuck that shit

It depends on the situation. What if down the road the US somehow became a dictatorship and some democratic country decided to "liberate" us? Would a nationalistic fervor rouse the nation or would we see what the problem was? But on another topic what are people's stances on deferments? A lot of neo-cons who said go attack Iraq got deferments from serving in Vietnam. Is this not just at least slightly hypocritical?

The thing with need is this. They wont call for you unless they need you. Its like how people think well if you get called up and everyone was in theatre and you are rear gaurd they must not need you. That is not true they still need people to do tasks and continuous training/instructing back home 24/7.

I do not see a public or administration today that would want to have the draft back. With 99% of the people in the IRR still not even being called up, we are not even close to being short changed at this time.
Heh, Im still waiting for my call up. I sill have 8 years left on my fleet reserve time.

I have often wondered whether or not I should volunteer to go serve in Iraq. But the answer that I have always come up with is that I shouldn't because of what I plan to do with my life. I want to work in the State Department as a diplomat, and part of a diplomat's responsibility is to try to avoid wars or to only engage in them when it is useful and needful to do so. By not volunteering now I may indirectly cause the death of somebody else (assuming I could have saved them), but I also have the chance, in the future, to prevent the deaths of thousands. I would go if I were drafted, without a doubt, but for now I will do what *I* think my country needs me to do. And I think it needs me to plan for the future more than it needs me to fight for it now.

I have often wondered whether or not I should volunteer to go serve in Iraq. But the answer that I have always come up with is that I shouldn't because of what I plan to do with my life. I want to work in the State Department as a diplomat, and part of a diplomat's responsibility is to try to avoid wars or to only engage in them when it is useful and needful to do so. By not volunteering now I may indirectly cause the death of somebody else (assuming I could have saved them), but I also have the chance, in the future, to prevent the deaths of thousands. I would go if I were drafted, without a doubt, but for now I will do what *I* think my country needs me to do. And I think it needs me to plan for the future more than it needs me to fight for it now.
Very astutely stated. I commend you.

In just over two years i will be a commisioned officer in the army. I am not so full of myself or my ego to think that the country needs me for its survivial. When my friends and family ask me what the hell i am thinking for joining the Army (Not a military family) i tell them simply "If I do not do this then who?"

I think my serving i can make a difference, i hope that i do.

Hmmm well I personally already live in Canada..... but anyways I think I *could* be drafted anyways, being a U.S citizen.

Anyways though, I would NOT dodge the draft. I would serve my country when it calls. Obviously a single person isn't NEEDED, but it definitely HELPS.

Also I support the war on iraq, so I would serve there if called upon to do so (even though I'm not in the military). If we are talking about wars in general, even if I didn't support it personally, I would still serve (if not happily). There could be an exception, i.e. if America went to war against China on a really flimsy basis (I'm chinese, so even though I never lived there, I still have alot of family there, many friend's families, and just the fact that that's where my background is from) I might not. Of course if there was a good reason to I would definitely join up.

As to whether or not your country NEEDS you? To me it's not serving my country when it needs me (although that's just an extra reason if it really were needed), it's serving my country when it calls.

It's part of being a citizen of that country. If you don't like it, renounce your citizenship.

I have a dual citizenship too so I think it'd actually be really easy for me to dodge a draft... without much in the way of consequences either.... but I wouldn't.

Edit: Why I don't join the army now? Because of the path I choose for my life. I am planning to go into medicine, then into politics. I can do ALOT more as a doctor and then as a politican than I can as a random soldier in the U.S. army.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! I love being a woman, if only for the reason that they feel we are too weak to draft. Fuck feminists! :)

In any instance I'd probably be swimmin' across The Great Lakes to Canada.