Reply #181: Let me remind you of one major difference between voluntary service and the draft. [View All]

[TahitiNut]

When someone leaves a job to 'volunteer' ... there's absolutely no assurance they can get their job back when the need for their service is passed - when they've done their share. If anyone thinks that most emplyers would have re-employed returnees from Viet Nam, or even WW2(!), then they don't know what those days were like at all. A draftee (purportedly) has that assurance. Whether 'drafted' to perform Public Health Services or military service, the penalties of volunteerism are alleviated.

As a society, we penalize voluntary service. We build in a presumption that it's not just "voluntary" but is a life's career choice. That's just plain stupid. There is currently no material accommodation for people to serve other than as 'lifers.' The chance that could be 'corrected' is that of a snowball in hell, I'm afraid.

So, the advocates of 'volunteerism only' just discard this consideration in the rush to avoid it.

It's a bit like tax deductions for charitable contributions. In recognizing it's subtracted from income, we take away the penalty. In a sense, the same can be said for a 'draft.'