candidone1 wrote:....and what end do you feel a mandatory draft meets?
I know I know....gratitude and humility.
I'd just like to hear how you explain how those things naturally follow from a universal draft.
Gratitude and humility is just what every citizen of the U.S. should have for the
privilege of living in the U.S. That's just simple ethical behavior, I believe.
The benefits of a universal draft are:
The other military services would get a better quality of enlistee, since during the times of a draft many young men joined another service (they possibly didn't want to become a soldier in the Army). The number of enlistees in the other services was therefore much greater, and those other branches of the service (Air Force, Navy) could pick the
best qualified enlistees. A percentage of all enlistees do make the service a career, and therefore the overall level of expertise goes up in these other
very high tech services.
Immigrants that truly value becoming a U.S. citizen would more likely come to the U.S., since those that just want to live in an immigrant enclave and enjoy the materialistic benefits of the U.S., while not assimilating, would not likely come to the U.S., if their children would have to join the military in a universal draft.
A universal draft would be fair warning to immigrants that one must assimilate to the western American culture, since in the military religious clothing, etc. would not be tolerated (and women would be drafted too).
A universal draft would help to make people in the U.S. truly an American people, since the experience of the military service would likely lessen the old ethnic/regional/religious/racial identities that keeps many U.S. citizens from thinking they are really one people - Americans.
A universal draft would eliminate an enemy using the "spread too thin" tactic of having the U.S. involved in many "hot spots" in the world at one time. It would be obvious to an enemy that with a universal draft the U.S. would not be spread too thin; the U.S. could handle a multi-front war.
A universal draft would be a deterrent against any country using nuclear weapons, since a belligerent country would know that the U.S. has the military boots on the ground to make any nuclear attack a waste, since the belligerent country could then be occupied with massive troops.
A universal draft before college would allow young people to mature the few years, often needed, to truly value a college education. Some form of the G.I. bill could then help with college tuition, rather than the current paradigm where students often leave college with a massive education load debt.
A universal draft that included women would allow women to have full equality in society, and would make all citizens understand the backwardness of cultures that limit female participation.
A universal draft would allow the U.S. to have its young people in bases, ships all over the globe. This means simply, no surprise attack could ever defeat the U.S. We are not all sitting in one place, so to speak.
A universal draft would hasten the process of America being a melting pot of the entire world. Military personnel have always married spouses from foreign shores. The U.S. will become constitutionally (genetically) stronger, as every dog breeder knows (pedigrees have more inherited diseases).
In today's U.S. society there is a percentage of young people raised without the presence of two parents. A stint in the military, under a universal draft, would assist those that wanted to get the discipline that might have been missing in his/her maturing years with only one parent very busy surviving economically.
A universal draft would help young draftees realize one should be grateful and humble for being a U.S. citizen, after seeing how a portion of the world lives (this being a Christian country, it should promulgate the secular virtues of gratitude and humility).