"Back-Door Draft?" WHAT Draft?

By "draft" most people (but certainly not all) mean involuntary conscription.

Like it or not, every poor pitiful American G.I. in harm's way signed up for military service. No one forced them, and the nature of the military is that you go into harm's way and there are no flipping "rules." You have standards and policies and plans and regulations and traditions and orders and in the end the real world laughs its ass off and says, "Grow up. Here's a live grenade in your hands. Cite regulations and die, or get rid of the thing in the fastest way possible, even if it isn't by the book. Good luck."

Just in case anyone has forgotten, I find the "war" in Iraq to be immoral and misguided. I also disapproved of the "war" in Afghanistan on the very same principles. The nation of Afghanistan did not bring the WTC down. Ya don't go after the nation for what a handful of creeps do. If that were the case the entire planet should nuke YOUR rear-ends for the preposterous antics in Washington, D.C.

In spite of technology and refined sensitivities of feeling, war and the military are about adapting, going beyond limits, and hopefully living long enough to succeed, and to get home again alive.

War is not hell. It is terror and confusion and pain and destruction and death. For that reason it should not be entered into lightly ... by trouble-making politicians, OR by volunteers.

So, while I am eager for someone to find a way for the military to come home safely, until that happens I have very, very little sympathy for the cry-babies who are unhappy that they volunteered for peace and got caught up in war. If ya can't stand the heat, stay the hell away from the uniform. And if you DO put on the uniform, wear it well, do the job (even as it changes), and by doing these things you hasten the end of the stupidity.

I volunteered for peace-time (albeit Cold War) duty in the Air Force. Can't get much farther from "real war" than that, right? But I took it seriously, and I was always aware that I was not in the Boy Scouts or the Salvation Army. I was a non-combatant G.I. and if it came down to it I recognized that my life (and comfort) were forfeit ... but forfeit in exchange for the hope that my service (and possible death) were for something more valuable than my own life. My service was for the life of my civilian family back home.

A big part of the reason why the rest of the world has trouble taking America seriously is because, beneath the technology and money, Americans are disgustingly soft, bratty babies.

The volunteers in Iraq should not be pawns in wars of words, their "suffering" justification for pontificating pet theories.

There is no draft. And the so-called "back-door draft" is just another word for reality. I will never defend this stupid non-war, but I will not attack it with specious allegations aimed at clouding the issue and hyping emotions. It is not honorable or noble to use irrational discourse when reason seems to fail. Principles are not variable, situational or conditional. Build a house with a rubber yardstick and you'll be wearing the roof in short order.