The youngest age to be drafted just doesnt make any sense

reply to post by SideWynder

Try being a T.A.C.Party F.A.C. and living in mountainous jungle during monsoons, going without food for 5 or 6 days at a time, without showering for over 2 months, and being on the first chopper in, and the last to board the last chopper out. Try fighting an enemy that was seldom seen....There were more snipers where I was that never got to even see the enemy during their entire tour, than did. .... Try being in a company at half strength, surrounded by a battalion of enemy at night and directing AC-47 gunship fire resulting in a body count of 180 bodies.

reply to post by theotherhawk


French sociologist Roger Caillois, in his book Les jeux et les hommes (Games and Men),[5] defined a game as an activity that must have the following characteristics:

* fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character
* separate: it is circumscribed in time and place
* uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable
* non-productive: participation is not productive
* governed by rules: the activity has rules that are different from everyday life
* fictitious: it is accompanied by the awareness of a different reality

It makes perfect sense.

At 16, 17, 18 you are old enough to defend "the system". You know, before pesky adulthood sets in and you realize that giving your life to defend the right of people to work 40-70 hours per week, isn't worth it. At this age, you are far less likely to have children as well, so you still aren't thinking about your future beyond the next few days.

We start kids out tens of thousands of dollar in debt if they want to "succeed" in this world, but we offer to help them pay for it - if they're willing to give their life. The military isn't about protecting freedom... If it was, they would have invaded congress when the "Patriot" Act was passed, and again with the recent FISA bill.

School and the military are only there to push one thing: obedience to the system. Typically, the more schooling people have, the less likely they are to stand up against the injustices of the system (especially since they've invested thousands of dollars to being part of/getting a step up in the system).

I do think you make a good point, but the age mankind is at now. When this war does come along. It would all be over before anyone could be called up. Thats my opinion anyways...

My random sequence number for the draft was 077. I volunteered before I was classified as 1A (inductable status). Some of the guys I was in basic with were just 17 and they too volunteered. While we were on post, we could buy 3.2 percent beer with no questions asked. If we went off post, the civilian bartenders never asked for ID even though the drinking age was 21. I do find it strange that at age 18 you're old enough to die in some foreign country but not old enough to vote for the idiots who sent you there in the first place. I have no respect for someone who sends kids into combat without having been there and done that. I do not mean being assigned to a combat zone and being in the rear as a clerk or whatever, to me a combat zone is being in the bush, in the heat of battle. I would love to see a personnel roster of all politicians who were issued a CIB (Combat Infantrymans badge).

reply to post by tankthinker


The U.S goverment could care less about a persons age as long as they are stupid enough to give their lives to support the evil and wicked plans of the U.S. And those plans always involve the genocide of the citizens of whatever country the U.S. plans to occupy. Think about it, the U.S. military has killed more children in Iraq and Afganistan than the so-called insurgents.So if killing children is the order of the day, then it is only right to think that recruiting children is something they do without reservation.

Originally posted by caballero
I think its one of the most disgusting things about our culture, that we have just grown comfortable with the fact that we are sending in children.

We might as well just drop the drafting age down to 16 here in the states what difference does it make? However people will look like this and tell me " No caballero 16 is too young, 18 is when boys become men"

No, 18 is when 17 becomes a year older. Only two years ago they were 16 only one year ago they were 17, the "adults" we try to make them out to be are still just kids, they are naive and they are virgin to many areas of life like drinking, so why should we introduce them into childhood with violence, death and decay?

I myself am 17 and although this may sound naive i asure you i am not! I have had alot of experiences in my lifetime most of them life changing and i think its the experience which counts. i have had alot of growing up to do where i live and what has happened to me, and in some sinister way i appreciate what the world has thrown at me.

Your views are flawed along with the next guys. You may think that age matters (Which is some cases it does) But its the experiences you encounter in life and knoledge of the world. You could be 27 and not know as much as a 15 year old.

I can see what you are saying here and it applies to the majority of kids these days, i'm guessing only a select few see the world as i see it.

Unubuh xx

Age really does not matter.The act of conscription or draft is what matters.
The reason it matters is conscription assumes the government owns you.
If you are willing to agree to being owned by the government then the draft is fine at any age.If not then the draft is aborrant at any age.

I don't understand why you picked 17. You can go right to the official web site and see the minimum age for selection, which for the United States is 18.

You have a lot of "what if's" for this to happen, but let's explore them. First we are at war. Next, there are not enough volunteers. Once we reach this point and someone who is 18-20 is drafted lets look at your points. It isn't worth entertaining the idea of 16-17 being selected because the law states 18+ so lets toss that out.

"not old enough to vote, drink, smoke, watch porn, go into clubs, or even watch R rated movies, but he is old enough to go kill another human being and see the horrors of war, and himself get killed for the politicians he never got to vote for."

This eliminates most of this because he is now 18+. If a person is under 21 and in the service, they can be served on select locations..there are exceptions to that rule. Your thought process for your last 2 items concern me. Is that what you think war is? That we go to war to have a human being kill another? Yes, war has horrors, but the goal is not to go and kill others. It is to defend your country. Avoiding death is always the best route. And to get killed for the politicians he never got to vote for? I hope you mean the founding fathers, the politicians who created the countries to begin with. If a person dies in a war, they did not die for any politician. He died for his/her country. The beliefs of that country, the men and woman who live in that country. If you were given two choices, what would it be? Your country overrun by another, taken over and millions of innocent lives killed. Woman, children. Or a draft that while ending the lives of young men, could save the lives of those same innocent people? War is not an easy choice, but choosing the lesser of evils.

Take a moment and put war into perspective. Ask a mother if she would kill to defend her child. If she would die for her child. Does that make her a murderer? An evil person? Or a hero?

Let me ask you a "what if" question. There is no right answer because it's a what if but...

What if the draft was not active in the past? Would Hitler have won? Would America have fallen to Japan, Russia, Germany, so on and so on. Once America fell, then how many other countries would follow suit? Is not being able to drink a beer that much of an argument?

reply to post by Shadow_Lord


hmmmm....

well i used 17 because im pretty sure in world war two it was 16 so i just used a sound in between number

as for the idea of defending your country, i see no countries on this earth, i see states of a global empire fighting each other to further a global elitist agenda

i dont know what countries your talking about

but you do have a point go and fight for your people or let the enemy invade and get killed

i would personally fight, but what i am saying is that if your going to force me to fight at that age at least let me do adult things, basically what i am saying is make up your mind.

basically 95% of history after Jesus' death (the time is debatable but i just picked a rough one) is played out exactly the way it was planned to be

Hitler losing was planned, i kind of feel sorry for him, i hope they told him he would lose, or he must have been pissed off, well at least he got to live.

reply to post by hypervigilant


I'm only 13, and I know how to think about my decisions, and question authority as you say. I know that there is no real right and wrong. A homeless person could rob a walmart for something to eat. Is it right to let them starve while the CEO has so much? Or is it right to take something that won't be missed for their survival?
I think the idea of a draft for an extreme war is both right and wrong. I believe that each person, males and females, has the duty to protect their country. But I don't think it's ok to ship them overseas at the age of 18. As others said, they most likely couldnt even vote for the polititian that made the desicion to go to war, yet they have to see the horrors of it.
24 Would be a good age. By this point, the people born in a presidential election year AFTER the election - like myself - would have a say in what they do.

Conscription is legalized slavery.

Originally posted by tankthinker
well i used 17 because im pretty sure in world war two it was 16 so i just used a sound in between number

In WW2, it was 18, but then lowered to 17 later in the war, I think.

reply to post by hypervigilant


No offense or dissrespect meant, Was just having a rough day and happened to put "mouth" in high gear whilst leaving brain in neutral..(not an excuse, just an explanation)

Also TankThinker, same thing, I do agree and understand how you feel, Like I said before I was in the service and did some awfull things, and I used to get a bit ticked off because When I got home I could not "leagally" buy a beer... LOL..

(in a much better mood today)

So to all, my appologies for being rather rude, and terse, earlier in the thread..

no problem it was fun

i find its just dangerous to get too emotional about things, people tend not to think straight.

reply to post by SideWynder

Hey guy, don't sweat it , I kind of get a little strange in my replies. ..When I think about that part of my childhood all kinds of subconscious feelings crap must occur or something. It seems to get worse as I get older, though it was a bad problem way back when. It don't mean nothing. ...Thanks.

There's no draft in the US, but if there was, it would be at age 18, which is old enough to vote, drive, smoke, go to strip clubs, etc. Oddly enough, the one thing you can't do at 18 is drink. Go figure.

What's messed up is that in the 60s, during the Vietnam war (and presumably the Korean war before that, and both world wars as well), you could be drafted at 18, but you couldn't vote until 21

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


You're reasoning is on the money as far as I am concerned. I am blown away that you at the age of thirteen are concerned enough to express yourself on this forum, and I hope that you will continue to do so.... The sad thing is they know that a 24 year old is less impressionable and not as likely to buy into the idea that they should follow orders that could result in being shipped home in a body bag. .... The Army had a 19 year old Warrant Officer program for helicopter pilots. Those guys were willing to fly into hot landing zones on medevac missions in a heartbeat. ... Marine pilots were college grads and had completed Officers Candidate School before they could attend flight school. That would have put them at the age of 24 or 25 at completion, and it would be a cold day in hell before you could one to come in to a hot L.Z. Thanks for replying , and hope you continue to post here

reply to post by hypervigilant


I hear ya,, kinda weird how, now that we are older, we seem to realize just how friggin young we were back then...... but back then, at the time we were all "grown men".... nuff said... LOL