What courses are you taking next semester? Really? Well, that's dumb; join the Army.
Don't fear, Penn State students. Despite the rabble of a few U.S. representatives and senators, the draft will not be reinstated and your girlfriend will not be modeling a Marine Corps uniform any time soon.
Yes, in the most recent plan, your girlfriend would be drafted. Under his self-promoting version of the draft, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, demands that every American from age 18 to 42 serve a two-year commitment to the military.
The fact that Rangel actually voted twice against his own draft bill shows that his outlandish proposal is nothing more than tough talk with little muscle.
Too bad he was not born in Pensacola. Then he could claim that he was suffering from Florida Voter's Syndrome
One notable thing about Rangel is that his praise of reinstating the draft echoes the thinking of many draft supporters. Rangel and friends believe the military is homogenous, ethnically and otherwise, in addition to understaffed.
So in order to make the armed forces more effective, they plan to slap helmets on a bunch of civilians and hope that their backyard lessons in Kentucky windage will be enough to fight a sophisticated enemy.
In the Civil War, the basics of loading and firing a single-shot musket were simple enough for draftees to learn in a few months.
As booby-traps, complex explosives and chemical weapons confounded and killed our under-trained draftees in Vietnam, it was plain that a few months of hurried training would not cut it when faced with a fierce enemy and complicated technology.
Fast forward to the year 2006. M-16s, pricey communications equipment and M203 grenade launchers are what you'll find in a U.S. soldier's foot locker; not gun powder, messenger pigeons or rocks.
So what if our military is homogenous? Rangel and others wish to see all races and social classes equally represented in the military. This idea is dandy on paper but is ripped to shreds in battle.
Soldiers are soldiers because they want to fight. They serve out of self-motivation, not coercion. History shows that conscripts get destroyed whenever pitted against a few rough volunteers.
According to the Selective Service, it would take 193 days for the first draftee to report to her base (remember, women would be drafted under this bill).
After that, it would take a year to a year and a half to train and place her into a combat unit.
Under Rangel's "plan," the two-year military commitment required of all draftees would expire as soon as they became competent. If Rangel drafted you at this very moment, you would be trained for two years and then be sent home.
For those unable or unwilling to serve combat duty, Rangel proposes a two-year period of civil service. "Young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals," Rangel said in a CNN interview. The question is, how does Rangel plan to train these draftees? Medical students study extensively to earn their degrees. How much training would it take for an average citizen to work effectively in a hospital?
There are few people America can trust when it comes to our nation's defense. Why then, do draft supporters wish to substitute civilians for professionals? Joe Schmoe is not the man I want patrolling our key seaports.
If there is to be a military draft, why not a dental surgeon draft? What the heck, we've brushed our teeth for years -- we should know what to do with that cavity drill.
NASA should have a draft. What if you make a mistake, you ask? Well, your commitment's only two years, Mr. Schmoe, you'll be out soon enough.
Granted, Rangel's plan is on steroids, but every draft supporter makes the common misconception that more people in the military would make it a more effective war-machine. That is somewhat of a sweeping statement. Not every draft supporter believes that. Rangel did vote against his own draft plan, after all.
