The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 5 of 15)

Reid Bogie br> Waterbury, Connecticut /p>

Forcing someone to join the military won't make them good soldiers; a lesson learned during WWII when we had 9 million men under arms. America produced its WWII heroes in abundance, but also incurred many cases of battle fatigue and outright cowardice with draftee soldiers. However, today's volunteers for military service are our best and most valuable citizens and therefore rare and to be carefully hoarded.

Consider the fact most Americans are exempt from conscripted military service on the battlefield and, except for fleeting guilt pangs, content to avoid serving their country at the risk of their lives. More than half of American voters are legally exempt from serving in combat units and, being practical souls, have no burning desire to be maimed or killed in battle. Yet, when a country is locked in a desperate struggle for survival, women go to war as combat soldiers rather than as support troops or medical personnel. The Soviet Union had many women soldiers in combat during WWII, including an air-ground support battalion of female flyers that fought like demons and had as much pride in their combat prowess as the American Marines or Army Airborne volunteer units. The Allies captured German women combat troops in 1945. The Japanese drafted women between the ages of 15 and 45 into a home army and armed them with spears to hold off the American invasion of mainland Japan.

So national survival overrides the civilized niceties and hammers home the problem with today's military. A tiny percentage of our male citizens serving in combat units are defending the rest of us with their lives. They and their parents, siblings, wives and children are required to sacrifice so other Americans can live in security and freedom. Amazing people and an amazing contradiction. Voters with no fear of violent death for themselves or their children decide when and where these incredibly valuable citizens will be sent and what dangers they will incur.

p>Perhaps that's why we've fought a series of limited wars since WWII and suffered such internal political and emotional conflict over each of those struggles. We want cheap and quick victories to spare ourselves collective guilt, but also want the individual right to decide who goes and who stays safe at home. br> -- Patrick Skurka br> San Ramon, California /p> p> If 18-year-old "men" are expected to sign up for selective service,18-year-old "women" must also in the name for equal rights. NO special treatment. Also, fathers are just as important to children as mothers. Look at ALL the problems in America's schools caused by kids being raised without fathers. br> -- Karen Guardiola /p>

topics:
Taxes, Foreign Policy, Business, Books, Movies, Constitution, Law, Military, Russia, Israel, NATO, Africa, North Korea, Alaska, Oil