Memories of the Draft in Peace Time and In War

[Cleita]

Talk of bringing back the draft brings back personal memories to that time before the draft was eliminated. I don’t think we should bring it back in this day and age, not the way things stand now anyway, but there were some benefits to it in the past. Also, it forced many of the elite to serve that wouldn’t have in the volunteer army we have today like the brothers Kennedy, John Kerry and poppy George H. W. Bush. Here is my story. Please share your story as well.

I was the only girl in my extended family of my generation. My three other cousins were male. My oldest cousin and I graduated from high school in 1958. “Tom” signed up with the Air Force. They had promised him the education he couldn’t get from his family. This was peace time so it wasn’t a big deal. After four years he emerged with a skill in electronics and drafting, with a tour of duty in England behind him. He got a job afterwards at a large aircraft manufacturing company with lots of government contracts. Going to night school and work release for classes, he earned his degree in electronics engineering with financial help from the company.

The next cousin in line, “Dick” got a scholarship to college using a deferment privilege to attend school. He earned his degree in aeronautical engineering and was immediately snapped up by the Navy into officer’s school and ended up in the Pentagon as a career Navy Officer working on top secret projects. At one time both brothers “Tom” and “Dick” were working on the same top secret project at that time, the stealth bomber.

My last cousin, “Harry”, wasn’t a stellar achiever like his two older brothers, but he answered the call of the draft, went into the regular army as a conscript and came out with skills as a mechanic, which would support himself and his family for the rest of his life.

The military changed my cousins, who came from a dysfunctional family ruled by a disciplinarian patriarch, policeman, father, into functioning and mature human beings. Up to that time they were unruly with a predisposition for getting into trouble. The military gave them the discipline and life skills to live their lives to the extent available to them. This was peacetime and the last one “Harry” finished his duty just before Vietnam. “Dick” never went to Vietnam because of his job in the Pentagon although he was in the Navy through the whole war and was the last one to go into the military in 1962 while the situation was beginning to brew.

Our families were poor farmers, who emerged at the turn of the century to move to the cities and get jobs. Our parents weathered the depression and no one up until my generation went to college. There was no money for college for my cousins and there was only enough for two years for me to learn some business skills so I could support myself until I got married. Families in those days wanted their kids out of the house and self-supporting before they were twenty-one. There were no Paris Hiltons or George W. Bushes with trust funds in my family.

So my point is that the draft is not a bad thing altogether. I think going into the military teaches kids maturity, self-esteem and for the poor ones give them some life skills to support themselves with. About going to war, that is another thing, but I don’t think any American would not willing go in a just war, even the privileged ones. What is happening now with this war is that we have a President with a warlord mentality, who wants to rape and pillage. This is not a just war. Also, historically warlords had to convince the rabble to follow them. They weren’t just ripped from their families and farms to make the warlord rich. They too had to be willing to die for whatever gain was in it for them.

In summary, right now, I am not sure about a draft. On one hand it would force the privileged to put their lives on the line like the under classes, on the other hand not one more American life should be lost for this President unless he can present a viable plan to end this mess with a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

1. I have often wondered about the peacetime draft (1954-1963).

I was too young to care at the start of that period (age 10) and wasn't paying attention at the end of that period (age 19, college deferment). I have wondered about people's attitude toward the 1950s peacetime draft, and have tried to research this area on the internet, but have drawn a blank. I wonder how many men were sent to prison for refusing induction in those days despite the fact that there was no shooting war (1954-1963). (Draftees were not sent to Vietnam until late 1964 or early 1965).

[HereSince1628]

2. What peace?

There was the building confrontation of the cold war and also a nasty bit of news on the Suez Canal and probably some other things that a pre-school kid wouldn't remember.

I loved airplanes as a kid and I remember seeing pictures take by one of my neighbors of a little Cessna with holes in its tail from N. Korean small arms fire.

And then there was that damned war with Canada. NO ONE seems to remember that.

[Cleita]

3. There were skirmishes and also the DMZ in Korea.

But very few saw action in those days. I did know a guy who had just been discharged and he had spent his military duty in the DMZ of Korea. They had some hairy times. He was able though to use the GI bill to go to school once he was out since he had seen action, although officially there were no wars going on and I think they were part of the UN peacekeepers. He told me of being there with soldiers of other nations.

[Devlzown]

4. Members of my family had similar experiences.

People who grew up on small farms needed all the help they could get in those days. I also had some uncles who were in the CCC during the Depression. One of them showed me a bridge that he helped build back then -- he went on to become an engineer. Instead of a draft, I think I'd rather see something more along the lines of the CCC -- something positive that builds our infrastructure here at home, isn't about violence, and is also educational.

[Cleita]

5. Isn't it strange, I always thought that exploration of

space would achieve the same goals too. Leave it up to Georgie to piss all over something that could have been a good thing.

[Devlzown]

8. He can't be trusted with anything.

Give somebody like that a car, and they've gotta drink a fifth of whiskey and drive through the middle of town.

[Kanary]

6. a CCC draft... I could go for that

Especially if it was *really* a draft.... *everyone* has to serve at least a year, or two years. I really do believe that would be a great thing for this country.

Thanks for the idea!

Kanary

[Cleita]

7. Yes, our government should do something like this.

Now that I think about it, one of my uncles served in the CCC. It was the only job he could get out of high school. When WWII arrived he volunteered and was sent overseas, survived and came home when it was over. But the CCC got him over a rough spot when the country was pulling itself out of the depression.

[Devlzown]

9. I didn't really mean a draft.

I don't know if my uncles were drafted or not -- I doubt it, it was the Depression, after all, they were happy to have the work. You could have incentives to join the CCC like you do with the military (G.I. Bill and all), but I don't like the idea of having a draft. Structured environments aren't for everyone and I don't like the idea of the government forcing people to spend years of their lives doing things against their will. I just think we need an alternative to the military as a molding tool in our society.