World War II marked the last war that received full American support. The draft, known today as compulsory conscription, was an integral part of that war. Seventy percent of American men aged 18 to 35 served. The common experience shared amongst these men created lifetime friendships for an entire generation. No other conflict since then has come close to producing such national unification and pride of citizenry. So states Charles Moskos, late professor of sociology for Northwestern University, recipient of the Distinguished Service Award for the U.S. Army, and a draftee for the U.S. Army Combat Engineers (Moskos). Currently, however, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the official estimate of the American veteran …show more content…
troops and increased homeland security.
Nonetheless, one of the worries of Americans in reinstituting the draft is that the educated, the rich, and the children of political officials will still be able to avoid military service. Critics of the draft complain that full-time students will continue to defer their military service to continue their education, and therefore conscription largely affects those not able to afford to attend college (“National”). During a census in the late 70’s, only six college graduates joined the enlisted ranks during the entire year of the census, reports author Alan Greenblatt (380). Another factor brought up against the draft is the continued avoidance of serving in the military by the rich. Certainly, this may still be the case if the draft were to be reinstated and the rich continued to move. David Segal, Director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Research on Military Organizations, agrees that wealthy society members were exempt during colonial times and during the Cold War. They paid others to replace them in the enlisted ranks (Greenblatt 380). Additionally, James Quinlivan, senior analyst for the RAND Corporation, asserts that the rich moved to areas beyond the reach of the draft rather than serve in the militia (Greenblatt 380). A 1960’s historian by the name of Myra Macpherson also contends that as much as the country was against the Vietnam War, avoiding military service during
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, transports the reader into the minds of veterans of the Vietnam conflict. The Vietnam War dramatically changed Tim O’Brien and his comrades, making their return home a turbulent and difficult transition. The study, titled, The War at Home: Effects of Vietnam-Era Military Service on Post-War Household Stability, uses the draft lottery as a “natural experiment” on the general male population. The purpose of the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) study is to determine the psychological effects of the Vietnam War on its veterans. In order to do this, they tested four conditions, marital stability, residential stability, housing tenure, and extended family living. However, it
After World War II came to an end, many returning veterans were not only tired of fighting, but were finally ready to return to living a normal lifestyle surrounded by their families and loved ones. However, this was easier said than done as many veterans found it very difficult to find jobs, keep a stable mentality, and stay financially stable. Luckily, the government saw this coming and developed the GI Bill of Rights, which gave every veteran a free education and unemployment benefits until they got back on their feet. Unfortunately, veterans were still quite bitter as they felt that the nation owned them much more for the risks and actions they took during World War II and the Korean War. These feelings are very accurately reflected within
There is a very small variety of demographics in the U.S. military. Major General Dennis Liach believes it is not fair that the military is made up mostly of low-income families, simply because they are from low-income families ("Should the U.S. Bring Back the Draft?"). If everyone was required to serve, it could bridge the civilian and military gap, while varying the economic class of military members. Reinstating the draft is needed for many reasons, but the quickness of building the military would be its most important
For most of American history men, and women have rose to the occasion in times of war, and joined. Women served as nurses, and cooks, while the men fought. This idea of fighting for our country is slowly fading; the U.S. Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam war, and the Korean War all used drafts. What if everyone was required to spend two years in the military? When did the idea of fighting for one’s country, one’s freedom, leave the minds of young adults in the country. A two year draft might not affect you, but your children, your grandchildren, and so forth deserve to live in a country that is great. Fighting for your country should be something everyone takes part in; we should not take our freedom for granted; the United States of America has your back, give the country
While, in theory, Rangel’s plan is effective and would most likely yield positive results if executed correctly, many scholars criticize his ideas and feel that a draft would do the complete opposite for which it should be abolished altogether. What pro-draft advocates such as Rangel ignore is that while a draft could induct people without discrimination to class, “intelligence, education, health, and prior experience all influence what they do in the military”(Gilliard). History has shown that even if the affluent do get drafted and must serve against their will, they, because of their education and class, are given safer staff jobs while the poor are made to fight the front lines as they are not deemed valuable enough to serve other positions.
When you enjoy the freedoms you have living in the United States, you can thank those men and women who serve in the armed forces. But in recent years, our armed forces have seen a decline in enlistments, which has reignited and old debate. Should we reinstate the Military Draft? This one question has sparked a debate nationwide, between friends, family, and even perfect strangers. Reinstating the draft is just one way to ensure people can continue to enjoy those freedoms the armed forces have fought for over the years.
This pamphlet has been created to help you understand why the draft should be brought back in today's society.
On August 7th 1964 the United States Congress passed into law the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which, for all intents and purposes, officially brought the United States into the Vietnam War. Following this resolution, a draft was instated to increase the number of men that could be sent to war. Shortly after men started to be signed into conscription for the United States Military, a public outcry started over the use of a draft to increase military size. The draft was found to be unfair to American Citizens because certain groups of men were severely disadvantaged, the draft was illegal in many ways, and veteran’s future lives were harmed, among other reasons.
Introduction In this project the subject being researched will be conscription in the Vietnam War. During this particular war, many Australian men were conscripted into the national servicemen and had to work in the army during the war. Many Australians were against the idea of conscription and protested against it. Between late 1964 and December 1972 804,286 twenty-year-olds registered for national service, 63,735 national servicemen served in the army and 15,381 served in Vietnam.
Many people in the 1960s and early 1970s did not understand why the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. Therefore, they had no desire to be a part of it. The Selective Service System, which was used to conduct the draft, had aspirations of directing people into areas where they were most needed during wartime. However, people took advantage of the draft system’s deferment policies to avoid going to war. Others refused induction or simply did not register. There were also people who left the country to escape the draft. The Vietnam War proved to be an event that many Americans did not agree with, and as a result, citizens took action to elude the draft entirely or to beat the draft system.
In 1969, about 1.75 million college students were deferred, more than 22 times the number in 1951, during the Korean War. During the Vietnam War, a high school graduate was twice as likely to be drafted and twice as likely to go to Vietnam as a contemporary who had finished college. (Bacevich
Conscription, or more boldly the draft, has not been in place for some thirty years. While some people cringe at the thought of reinstating the draft, others have different views. This short paper will speak of those different views and the reasons why conscription of military service may not be such a bad idea after all.
Few Americans that were drafted, however, did attend their injunction. Thomas Yager, Robert Laufer, Mark Gallops, PhD’s in psychiatry, confirmed that men who did attend, experienced several behavioral and emotional problems. Of these that attended, behavioral and emotional problems produced in the men who fought, usually went AWOL (absent without leave) and escaped to Canada through underground railroad tunnels whom were helped by anti-war supporters. Multitudinous amounts of young men attended college to avoid the draft; college students building their future were not permitted to be drafted in the war. Damien de Walque, a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group, believes that, “During the Vietnam War, college attendance provided a strategy to avoid the draft in the 1960’s.” As a result, families that could not afford college, were drafted into the war. College campuses became a crucible for anti-war protests. Students actualized protests against an unjust war at numerous college campuses, conceiving extreme amounts of tension across the nation. Kent State University is the most known anti-war protest college where students set fire to the ROTC building. Several students were killed, even those not involved in the protest. As protests increased, populous amounts of Americans had new judgement to evade the draft. Draft resistance became a day to day thing accumulating the struggle for war to be
In the middle 1960s, every male in America had to register for Selective Service Draft at age 18. He would then be eligible for the draft and could be inducted into the Army for a period of two years. If you were a college student, you could receive a deferment and would be able to finish college without the fear of being drafted. However, once finished with college, a students name would be put to the very top of the draft list and could be deployed at anytime. The anti-war movement was about young men being drafted and then sent into war that most Americans did not believe threatened the security of the US. The Vietnam War was America’s rebellious war, a war without popular support
Inequality is a prevalent issue found in many forms—in literature, in the past, and even in our society today. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, inequality between the pigs and the animals—the two classes that eventually form within Animal Farm—is the primary evidence that it has become a totalitarian society. While Orwell is addressing inequality between different classes in his novel, he also acknowledges that inequality itself is a significant social issue—including inequality between men and women. Although this has largely been resolved in terms of legal matters, the most significant legal difference between men and women is a difference that affects a multitude of lives—that is, the military draft. Long-resolved gender stereotypes cause only men to be registered for the draft, while women face no such problem. Even though critics contend that increased sexual harassment will occur if women are forced to join the military, this will not happen because of strength in numbers and respect they gain from their peers. In order for complete equality between the genders, women should be registered for the military draft because the law prohibiting women from registering in the draft does not uphold society’s current beliefs and because women have the legal same rights as men, but fewer responsibilities.