On Fri, 3 Mar 2000 19:36:32 +0100 (CET), Cliff Albert wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Feb 2000 some message from Michael Polak appeared before me saying,
>> I think that compulsory military service should be outlawed in all
>> countries worldwide. I am absolutely _not interested_ in serving in any
>> army of any country in the world, but Czech laws give me very little choice,
>> and "alternative service" is kind of punishment for people who refuse
>> to go to the army anyway.
> I'm glad the netherlands already dumped military service ;)
The United States did away with compulsory military service sometime
in the late 1970's. It was thought that an all volunteer force would
be more effective than reluctant draftees, especially when asked to
fight an unpopular war like in Vietnam.
Many American men like myself were faced with the dilemma of being
conscripted to fight a war that we thought was misguided, immoral
and useless. I was not a conscientious objector to war in general,
but I was firmly convinced that the war I was being asked to fight
was wrong.
My brother felt the same way, but when he was drafted he chose to
serve rather than resist. He bitterly regrets that decison now.
He served with distinction, had a top level security clearance and
as a teletype operator was privy to the uncensored field reports.
His view, based on his service in Vietnam, is that the war was an
unecessary tragedy for America and for Vietnam, and accomplished
nothing.
My brother's opinion now is that if your government demands that you
do something that you believe in good conscience to be wrong that you
should refuse to serve and willingly pay the consequences. He says
that he would tell them to go to hell with their war and would volunteer
to go to jail. I would proudly go with him.
Sam Ewalt
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