Hunger Games: The Movie

This is a new movie out that is based upon a book (three books) so I guess we can expect at least two more sequels. Imagine Harry Potter being a 17 or 18 year old girl and replace his magic wand with a bow and arrow. This is a real tear jerker along the lines of what the draft in the U.S. was like before it ended in
1973. However, the movie is about a lottery(draft of young people 'boys and girls' aged 12 to 18). They are forced to kill each other (24 which is one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts) while being televised for the rest of the country to watch how they all die but one who will be the eventual victor and then live rich the rest of their lives.

Conscription in the United States

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"The Draft" redirects here. For other uses, see Draft (disambiguation).

Young men registering for conscription during World War I, New York City, June 5, 1917.

Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War. The United States discontinued the draft in 1973, moving to an all-volunteer military force, thus there is no mandatory conscription. end quote from
Wikipedia under "Conscription in the United States"

However, it is important to realize that because of equal rights if there is another draft that girls over 18 would be drafted along with the boys. This is what makes this movie so pertinent and scary in some respects.

I hope this movie brings up the debate over the draft once again. Because what has happened to volunteer soldiers being sent back into battle sometimes 4 to 8 times almost always creates wounds, deaths, or post traumatic Stress disorder. So, in some ways to volunteer for military service directly through the Army or through the National guard might be seen by some as self destructive or even suicidal. The country needs to rethink sending any soldier into 4 or 8 consecutive 1 year stints on active duty and what the real cost to both them and the nation really is. I remember during the Viet Nam War that only 1 or 2 tours of active duty in a war zone was allowed then and I think it should be that way now once again. Because often people can overcome their post traumatic Stress disorder that comes from killing or seeing your friends killed or dying horribly when they don't have to go through that over and over and over again during 4 to 8 consecutive tours of duty.

I greatly enjoyed this movie and the lead character often reminded me of myself in regard to her survival strategy which is basically: Survive but do the least harm possible to yourself and others to survive. It was obvious that the more bloodthirsty of the characters were already psychologically dead before they died because of not having a useful moral compass.