Richard Reid Sentence Hearing

[Tackalt]

If not people who are trying to better their lives through college, at least giving those homeless / welfare people who are within age to join the military. Those who drop out of school at age 16, and sit on their fat asses "popping caps" in people that live in their neighborhood.

But a draft does not necessarily mean you're going to fight. Merely enlisting for two years, regardless of wartime or not. It would not solve the problems of today, no, but it'd only help, I think.

There are not riots in Israel for two years mandatory service.

[betasoldier]

If not people who are trying to better their lives through college, at least giving those homeless / welfare people who are within age to join the military. Those who drop out of school at age 16, and sit on their fat asses "popping caps" in people that live in their neighborhood.

But a draft does not necessarily mean you're going to fight. Merely enlisting for two years, regardless of wartime or not. It would not solve the problems of today, no, but it'd only help, I think.

There are not riots in Israel for two years mandatory service.

If there were a draft, there would likely be riots, I doubt they would be violent or anything even approaching Vietnam, but there would be some because it would be such a radical change. However, it wouldn't be too severe, because its not like you'd be EXPECTED to die, like it was during Vietnam. It could definitely get that bad because of the media portayal of everything, but its not that bad yet. Still, once again I have to say, I don't want to serve next to somebody who doesn't wish to be there, he'll be mad instead of watching my back.

[Tackalt]

I'd really like to see a couple hundred people be just taken into the service to see what happens. It's not practical, and it's not going to happen, but I doubt they would continue to be mad after going through boot and being sent into combat zones.

Just like a case study of some sorts that sees how being drafted affects people's attitudes during combat. My hypothesis is that they'd be mad at the government, not their fellow soldiers. They would be trying to survive, and that involves team

[rhonnin]

Military service is not guaranteed to turn you around either like many people seem to think, there are plenty of worthless punks wearing uniforms despite enlistment.

[betasoldier]

Military service is not guaranteed to turn you around either like many people seem to think, there are plenty of worthless punks wearing uniforms despite enlistment.

Very, very true. Trust me on this. Tack, you will learn that just because anger should be directed at someone else, in this case the government, there a lots who WILL hold it against you. Which, you probably already know, but the main thing you will learn once you do get in, is that just the distraction of being mad at something else, can cause you to get you and your buddies killed. They'll be thinking about that, instead of what's important. We had shit like that happen in Basic, someone's GF or fiance left them, cheated on them, their cars being repo'ed, a family member got hurt. You do your damndest to help them through that, because it becomes VERY distracting for them.

[Tackalt]

Maybe so. Guess I'll have to throw in some comments after I've actually gone through it and seen it first hand. All I can do is speculate atm.

[betasoldier]

Maybe so. Guess I'll have to throw in some comments after I've actually gone through it and seen it first hand. All I can do is speculate atm.

Speculating is most of what I have. Hell, all I've gone through is basic and about 6 months in the reserve, its not much. Sergeants tell lots of stories though, pay attention to ALL of them, most of them have some sort of moral. I know I am, seeing as in all likely hood this time next year I'll be in Iraq unless I get really lucky. To be honest, I'm sure as hell afraid to go over there from the stories I've heard and the pictures of wounds they showed us during basic. The things an IED can do to a human body, *shivers*, terrible. One of the sergeants at my unit had a friend over there that lost a foot and leg because he got bored and decided to kick a pepsi can, guarantee that's the last can he'll ever kick.

What I do know for sure so far though, is that trust me, not everybody can continue on with their job as normal when they're mad about stuff like that. Trust me, I know I'm not immune to it, it happens to everybody, most of the time I can go on with it though. Shit happens. Honestly, the draft really would do a lot of people some good in making them better people, however, its just not worth the cost. What we really need is a media that actually looks upon military service honorable eye, instead of with disgust.

[Gunther]

I have always been a strong believer that the military can help a young man mature and determine what he is going to do in life, but there are a few isolated examples of people who were adversely affected by military training.

Lee Harvey Oswald Blah
Charles Whitman Blah
Timothy McVeigh Blah

Those were just a few names off the top of my head. I'm sure with some research we can come up with a few more. But I also believe that the criminally demented minds make a fractional minority of those who do enter military service.