Serving America
Harking back to the pre-election scare mongering of the left, Southern Conservative asks in this week's Homespun Symposium, do we have the right to insist or expect that there will be no draft to fight the global war on terror? Noting the role the draft played in the first two World Wars, the author then asks, what gives our generation the right to expect to abstain from the same duty our grandfathers and forefathers were called to? These questions leave us to examine the very nature of our beliefs, the extent of them, and our willingness to defend that which we hold dear. For my part, this is an entirely worthwhile effort.
The advent of the all-volunteer service began after the Vietnam War. There was even a time, though short lived, where no registration was required between 1975 and 1980. It abruptly ended with the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The volunteers have finally brought peace and self-governance to Afghanistan, or at least the beginnings of such.
In 1985, when I decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps, like nearly everyone else I would meet in the service, it was for personal reasons. Not a single reason, and not without the realization that in doing so I, like those I would serve with, either could, or would, be called upon to serve in time of war. When in 1987, as a young Corporal with just over a year of service, General Alfred M. Gray became Commandant of the Marine Corps, replacing the venerable P.X. Kelley, I was reminded, as were all Marines, that we were warriors first, no matter our occupational specialty or MOS. It was a grand time to be a Marine as General Kelley had worked to rebuild the caliber of the Corps, and General Gray would lead the Corps to refocus on what we did best. Or as Paulie once reminded me, the Marines are trained to kill; it’s the Army that is taught to be all you can be.
Being a volunteer, in August of 1991, the following weekend after the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces, I walked into Master Gunnery Sergeant Montoya’s office and declared - if anyone has to go, I want to. The call came, and I did. My second son was born while I was at Ras al-Mishab in Saudi Arabia. And now, another generation of volunteers has removed Saddam from power.
Does this in any way serve as a means to support the idea that an all-volunteer force will forever meet the needs of the nation? No. It is simply a means to clarify prior to my response, that I speak not as someone who has not served nor as someone who’s children may not. I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who serve today. And in all earnestness, on many occasions, long for a way that I too could serve the great cause that they do.
Last November, and before, when political manipulators attempted to sway the vote by suggesting that a draft was in the works if President Bush was reelected, I like many on the right immediately challenged the assertions and noted that it was the left, Charlie Rangel for instance, who was calling for a draft. But that was politics, or so I’m told.
Should a draft be needed, a highly unlikely event during President Bush’s second term, then I, and other libertarian and conservative members of our society will step up to the plate and support its existence, if for no other reason that it is the responsible thing to do. As would liberals, or at least I would hope. We’ve made no argument except the defense of our nation, and when that defense requires more of us than our volunteer forces can provide, we would provide it. Our history has shown this to be among the greatest American traits.
Other Homespun Responses:
Karin Kydland
Southern Conservative
Major Dad 1984
American Warmonger
Being Thomas Luongo
Nixon's Memoirs
Eric's Random Musings
Ogre's Politics and Views
Bunker Mulligan
Carpe Bonum
The Commons at Paulie World
