While I was in South Korea my friend's wife was telling me about a South Korean actor who decided to not serve in the military at 18 in South Korea and now lives in Los Angeles instead of South Korea and cannot ever visit South Korea without going to jail for not serving in the military when he was 18 to 20 years of age. And I suppose it is like this in Israel too for young men and women ages 18 to 20 years of age.
Though this seems foreign to us now in the U.S. from the beginning of World War II until 1972 the draft was in place and more young men my age were drafted and died as a result in Viet Nam than any other age (We were born in 1948).
However, for me, because of having had blunt trauma childhood epilepsy I was classified as 4F which meant that I could only be called up for active duty in case our country was actually attacked on the mainland by a foreign power or powers.
End of conscription
During the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon campaigned on a promise to end the draft.[52] He had first become interested in the idea of an all-volunteer army during his time out of office, based upon a paper by Martin Anderson of Columbia University.[53] Nixon also saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine the anti-Vietnam war movement, since he believed affluent youths would stop protesting the war once their own probability of having to fight in it was gone.[54] There was opposition to the all-volunteer notion from both the Department of Defense and Congress, so Nixon took no immediate action towards ending the draft early in his presidency.[53]Instead, the Gates Commission was formed, headed by Thomas S. Gates, Jr., a former Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower administration. Gates initially opposed the all-volunteer army idea, but changed his mind during the course of the 15-member commission's work.[53] The Gates Commission issued its report in February 1970, describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without having conscription.[52][55] The existing draft law was expiring at the end of June 1971, but the Department of Defense and Nixon administration decided the draft needed to continue for at least some time.[55] In February 1971, the administration requested of Congress a two-year extension of the draft, to June 1973.[56][57]
Senatorial opponents of the war wanted to reduce this to a one-year extension, or eliminate the draft altogether, or tie the draft renewal to a timetable for troop withdrawal from Vietnam;[58] Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska took the most forceful approach, trying to filibuster the draft renewal legislation, shut down conscription, and directly force an end to the war.[59] Senators supporting Nixon's war efforts supported the bill, even though some had qualms about ending the draft.[57] After a prolonged battle in the Senate, in September 1971 cloture was achieved over the filibuster and the draft renewal bill was approved.[60] Meanwhile, military pay was increased as an incentive to attract volunteers, and television advertising for the U.S. Army began.[52] With the end of active U.S. ground participation in Vietnam, December 1972 saw the last men conscripted, who were born in 1952[61] and who reported for duty in June 1973. On February 2, 1972, a drawing was held to determine draft priority numbers for men born in 1953, but in early 1973 it was announced that no further draft orders would be issued. In March 1973, 1974, and 1975, the Selective Service assigned draft priority numbers for all men born in 1954, 1955, and 1956, in case the draft was extended, but it never was.[62] Jeff Mellinger, the last drafted enlisted ranked soldier still on active duty, retired in 2011.[63]
Post-1980 draft registration
end quote from:
Conscription in the United States - Wikipedia, the free ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_StatesThe draft was ended when the United States military moved to an all-volunteer military force. However, the Selective Service System remains in place as a ...
Wikipedia
How the U.S. Draft Works - HowStuffWorks
people.howstuffworks.com/us-draft.htmAccording to the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States military now maintains a force of around 1.4 million active duty personnel. In times of relative ...Also, during the Viet Nam war many young men rather than to get drafted or go to jail for resisting the draft here in the U.S. went to Canada to live there to avoid the draft. Many are still living there today while other decided to go to jail to return to the U.S. for 1 to 5 years time. Still others, later I believe were given amnesty eventually and allowed to return to the U.S. as U.S. citizens once again.
If all out war ever breaks out between the U.S. alongside NATO against Russia and possibly China you can bet the draft will come into existence once again. Only this time likely it will be like Israel with both all young men and young women being drafted this time.
Let's hope this never happens because the draft was always a mess and just caused the unnecessary deaths of thousands of people who had no business in the military because they were completely unsuited for it psychologically and sometimes died the first day in a battle.
No comments:
Post a Comment