Whew, that's a tough one. I was a volunteer, myself. I'm 56 years old now and the local youngsters know that I'm retired military. And these days if I'm asked by a young person about joining, I tell them "I wouldn't." Unexpected advice from a military retiree perhaps, but I have to give an honest answer. And that's the way I feel about it.
And my reasons for telling them that are because I question the purpose behind our various excursions of late, and not only did I have to wrangle for about three years to obtain the benefits that I was "guaranteed" when I joined, but over the years they have cut and continue to seek to cut those benefits. Even if they give you the benefits that they promised, you'll never rest easy, because there will always be Michelle Bachmanns, John McCains, and Tom Coburns looking to cut your benefits when they're not busy voting to increase their own.
On top of that, the services themselves have become so nitpicking chickenshit about every little thing these days that I'm sure I'd be in deep shit in about ten minutes if I was still in.
But we do need armed forces. How to fill the ranks? Well, I think the all volunteer force is a good thing, but I do agree that things would be better, especially for veterans and their benefits, if more Senators' and Representatives offspring got to wear a uniform.
I'm hesitant, however, to advocate conscription. If we ever do draft people again, I'd like to see great improvements to the policies on conscientious objectors. If a person sincerely abhors the idea of participating in such things, then they should not have to jump through hoops to be exempted from it. A person should be allowed to live as their conscience dictates. If someone believes that violence is wrong, then they have my blessing, speaking as a veteran, to be exempted from serving. Of course, that would also provide an easy out for the children of the privileged. So I guess those of us born without the proverbial silver spoon in our mouths would still get the brunt of it.
I think I'd have to stay with the all volunteer force. But I sure wish the politicians would stop to think how they'd feel if one of us disabled vets was their son or daughter before they cast a vote to make our lives even harder by cutting our benefits. And it's usually the flag-wavingest Republican uberpatriot with a "Support Our Troops" bumper sticker on his limo that's eying our benefits for more cuts. I wish more veterans would realize this.
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