The military draft has been a focus of my life since I was a teenager. I was a Vietnam Kid. The war always loomed large for me. When I was in college I was obsessed with it. I was convinced that I would die in Vietnam if I had to go. My relationships with women were framed by the belief that I could never make a commitment because I soon would be in the jungle toting an M16.
Part of this attitude came from my Dad who never got drafted because he started a screw machine shop in Chicago to avoid fighting in World War II. It is family lore that in 1942, with his draft imminent, he bought six Davenport screw machines, hired a Dakota farm boy named Paul Carlson as his first employee, and gave him the Davenport operator’s manual to study. In a couple of weeks he had those six Davenports making bullets by the millions.
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My story was a little different. One of my high school teammates from the basketball team volunteered for the Navy upon graduation. He wanted to fly jets. He was an early war casualty flying over Laos in 1964.
I joined the Illinois National Guard after college at the height of the war in 1968. I went to Basic Training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. In my unit of 300 guys, I was one of two in the Guard. Most of the rest figured they were going to Nam and were terrified about it.
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Today my feelings about compulsory military service have changed somewhat. I see a divided U.S. I see young men and women without a commitment to their country or a purpose. I see a fading work ethic and colleges that give “A’s” even if students do not deserve them.
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In Israel, where military service is compulsory for men and women, hundreds of thousands of citizens serve in the Reserves for many years. The Israel Defense Forces unites the country. It helps give it a sense of purpose. It makes Israel one very large family even if people argue all the time.
It also provides something else, opportunity. Many of the most successful high tech businesses, some worth billions of dollars today, have come out of acquaintances and work done during military service.
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Finally, there is the example of Finland. While most of Western Europe shuns the military, Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, regards such service with dead seriousness. With a big border with Russia, the compulsory draft for men plus a highly skilled group of career soldiers gives the country 280,000 well-trained and armed men and women who can be quickly mobilized.
The little country is ready for any Russian assault. Putin knows it and is unlikely to attack like it did in Ukraine.
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I am an old draft avoider, but I have huge respect for Israel and Finland. The United States can currently attract enough soldiers, which gives me some comfort, but a national compulsory service program could unite America at a time it so badly needs a sense of purpose, not anger and laziness among its young people.
Question: How has war or being in the military impacted your life?
