Selective Service system test

[Nords]

"The Selective Service System is planning a comprehensive test of the military draft machinery, which hasn't been run since 1998. The agency is not gearing up for a draft, an agency official said Thursday. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009."

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,121118,00.html?ESRC=navy-a.nl

Note that the SSS has nothing to do with the military, isn't run by the military, and probably can't even get phone calls returned by the military.

Call me cynical, but a system that's supposed to be tested just once every three years and keeps getting canceled for lack of funding must not be a very high priority. In fact, if I was trying to kill off this particular govt agency, I'd give them the money to run their test and then sic the GAO on them. After demonstrating that they couldn't even do their job right when they were getting paid to do so, they'd be "reallocated" to some other part of the Homeland Defense budget.

Stay tuned for future spinfests...

 

[Cut-Throat]

Stay tuned for future spinfests...

Just remember, the military does not start wars and in current times does not end them either.

I agree that the draft does not make the military more efficient, in fact as you point out it makes it worse on all levels. The draft however is very instrumental in getting the civillian population to make more intelligent decisions about getting in and out of wars. College kids of draft age helped get us out of Vietnam. That is why I am 100% in favor of a no deferment draft of both sexes in this country.

All our civilian population was required to do in the last Iraq War was "Go shopping" . In fact since all the money for this war was borrowed, this generation did not even have to pay for it financially.

 

[mickeyd]

I already burned my draft card. I'm home free no matter what they do.

 

[Nords]

College kids of draft age helped get us out of Vietnam. That is why I am 100% in favor of a no deferment draft of both sexes in this country.

I think there were a lot of other people not of draft age who were also helping to get us out of Vietnam. It's hard to say whether the college students tipped the balance or were just media soundbites.

I don't mind the concept of some sort of mandatory public service, even if it's just cleaning subway trains & sweeping sidewalks, but I don't think that the threat of a draft will keep people from seeking out wars. The draft existed from 1948 to 1973, so technically we've avoided more wars without the draft than with it.

I like the idea of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers"-- you don't serve, you don't vote. But ol' Bob was never a fan of conscientious objectors, and my viewpoint is also probably less than objective.

Whether there's ever a military draft or not, I can't accept a system that forces people who don't want to be there to work for people who don't want them there. Ooooh, waitaminnit, I just described most of the American workplace...

 

[DRiP Guy]

Hey, I paid my debt to society -- eight years worth! Of course, they forgot to tell me there was a 'ready reserve commitment' even after that...

Our Uncle Sugar sure can be fast and loose with the legalese when it suits him; I recall for Desert Storm II, they were recalling and extending like no tomorrow, even when enlistment contracts said otherwise. 60 minutes even got into the act, covering the story of a

For once in my life, maybe this will be a chance to say that eating all those pizzas has been a good thing; I don't think they even make a uniform in my current size!

Like many Army officers, Mary signed up for eight years -- four years active duty, and four years in the Ready Reserves. She received her discharge certificate in 1998, but she was called up this past June to serve as a transportation officer.

"I called the Delay and Exemption Board. And the young lady that I talked to said that date [on my contract] meant nothing. That my new date is 2018," says Mary.

"I was in shock. I was like, 'What do you mean? I have a piece of paper that tells me that that's my obligation.' And for them to just send me orders and disrupt my life and pull me back, it's disheartening and I feel betrayed, I guess you could say. … The military is betraying me, because I served my time."

What Mary didn’t realize is that, as an officer, she remained in the Ready Reserve -- even after her eight years were through -- because she hadn’t resigned her commission as an officer.

But she’s not alone. Many officers say they were never made aware of that -- that no mention is made of it in the enlistment agreements they signed. The Army, which declined a request by 60 Minutes for an interview, counters that the requirement is referred to in the agreements – if ever so obliquely.

"It's a six-digit reference to an Army regulation, that that's put in a remark section in these agreements," says Mark Waple, a lawyer who specializes in defending soldiers. "It borders on being a deceptive recruiting practice. I’m not suggesting it was intended that way."

Waple is a graduate of West Point and was once a judge advocate general in the military himself.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/03/60minutes/main658994.shtml

 

[haha]

I think there were a lot of other people not of draft age who were also helping to get us out of Vietnam. It's hard to say whether the college students tipped the balance or were just media soundbites.

Wouldn't be hard to say for anyone who was in any large city or large university in those years. Then as now there were a small number of leftists and dedicated pacifists who opposed the war. But the energy and determination and numbers and furor came form young men and their sisters, wives, girlfriends, and some of their parents.

Most outside this group were described as the "silent majority", or alternately as "Good Germans".

Ha

 

[Nords]

Hey, I paid my debt to society -- eight years worth! Of course, they forgot to tell me there was a 'ready reserve commitment' even after that...

Veterans who don't look up every obscure reference in their orders must not have been paying attention while they were on active duty. They're experts at using the fine print against the bureaucracy but they never imagine that it could be used against them!

My "retirement" orders have one of those subtle little clauses where I agree to be paid a lifetime pension in exchange for a lifetime eligibility to be mobilized. When that commission to serve is awarded "at the pleasure of the President" they aren't kidding around.

 

[lets-retire]

It sounds to me like she didn't learn much in her eight years. The military is notorious for using the fine print. I had that lesson learned within my first 2 years on active duty.