Can I Have Some Of Whatever This Guy Is Sniff'n?

[MalahatTwo7]

Must be some kind of really great glue or something. Wonder if he is willing to share?

Rangel Seeks To Reinstate Military Draft

POSTED: 12:50 am EST November 20, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 under a bill the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel, said he will introduce next year.

Rangel, D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars.

President George W. Bush would never have invaded Iraq if there were a draft and members of Congress and his administration thought young people from their communities would be placed in harm's way, Rangel said.

Rangel has unsuccessfully sponsored similar legislation in the past. He said the all-volunteer military puts the burden of war on minorities and poor families.

But there is little support among the public or lawmakers for the plan.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last year there isn't a chance in the world the draft will be brought back.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Although maybe in some really convoluted manner he does have a good point? Nah!

[lvwrench]

?

This guy must be living next door to a meth lab and getting far to many fumes. The whole thing reads like garbledy gook. How in the world do these peole get elected in the first place?

[E229Lt]

Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 under a bill the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel

How many on here didn't know you have/had to register with Selective Services on your 18th birthday?

[ChiefDog]

How many on here didn't know you have/had to register with Selective Services on your 18th birthday?

E229Lt I guess we are the only ones that knew this.... like for the last 20+years or you don't get Federal student loans etc!

[EastKyFF]

I knew it, 229, and I did register.

I would rather have an army of willing inductees who lack diversity than an army of diverse inductees who lack will.

And as for Rangel's argument that it would deter reckless military deployment, maybe. But we've got families of war dead who joined willingly and aren't happy with politicians now, so I would think that mechanism will clearly be visible the next time we consider military action. Which is to say, the Cindy Sheehan factor was not borne of a draft, and a draft is not necessary to keep it.

[BFDNJFF]

Ummm I got my Selective Service #

[LuckyThirteen]

I registered. Its actually one of the items they check when you inprocess the military.

[fireman4949]

I just want to know how the hell idiots like Rangel keep getting re-elected time after time!

He just makes me sick!

[Ladder8]

I read about mutts like Rangel - who aren't fit to even lick the boots of MEN like this one:


He lost his hands in Iraq, but not the will to serve
Marine won the right to stay in uniform

By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER

On April 7, 2004, Marine Cpl. James "Eddie" Wright was on his second deployment to Iraq, riding in the lead Humvee in a convoy patrolling south of Fallujah, when insurgents ambushed his unit.

As the eruption of concussions punched the air and shrapnel and machine gun bullets tore through windows, metal and flesh, a rocket-propelled grenade hit Wright's automatic rifle and exploded.

"I was conscious, surprisingly awake through the whole thing," Wright, 31, who grew up in West Seattle, says. "I can replay every moment in my head. I opened my eyes and looked at my arms and remember thinking, 'Damn, both of them?' "

The explosion had blown off Wright's right arm below the elbow and his left at the wrist. Wright's left eardrum was ruptured and his helmet and safety glasses were torn away. Looking down, he saw his left femur protruding from his thigh, and knew he could bleed to death.

"I was ****ed that I couldn't pick up my rifle, but I couldn't concentrate on little details," he recalls.

Young Marines around him, some without combat experience, needed him. Their commander had been killed. With a firefight raging, Wright knew he had to remain cool to save them and himself.

"If I freaked out, they would. I needed to get us to better cover out of the 'kill zone.' I figured I could have handled the RPG blast, but one or two bullets hitting me might have done me in," Wright says.

He directed the men in setting tourniquets and applying first aid to him and two other wounded. As one Marine jumped into the driver's seat of the damaged Humvee, Wright directed them from the area. As the Humvee sped away, Wright continued, too, to point out enemy machine-gun nests, directing others to take them out.

With both hands gone and his leg nearly lost except for the skill of a military surgeon in a field hospital, Wright's career, if not his life, might have ended then and there. Yet during a year of painful recovery and therapy, during which Wright was promoted to sergeant and awarded a Bronze Star for valor, he fought to remain in uniform, and won.



His job:

Hand-to-hand combat instructor at the Marine Corps' famed martial-arts school at Quantico, Va.

Today, he charts a new life: college and a career in the business world, perhaps telling his story to inspire others.


The rest of the story here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/293003_eddie20.html

[mcaldwell]

I used to think 2-3 years of mandatory service (before or after college) would be a good thing. Too many smart-mouthed punks out there that could use an attitude adjustment (like myself in my youth ).

And as for the unwilling participants, Israel and several others have seemed to figure that problem out, and the Israeli Army is one of the most effective military and security machines in the world.

The key to the model is of course not putting the pacifist on a gun, but putting them somewhere in the domestic logistics chain. Anybody can hand new recruits boots, and give haircuts, etc. regardless of your political views.

And I also think that when the majority of the population is at risk of reactiviation during wartime, the political ramifications of war are certainly greater. You aren't just sending the "volunteers", but potentially the bulk of your voting populus. How about a little more proof of those WMD's Sir?

But freedom is all about the "Free" will. And as I get older, I tend to agree more that it should mean the "choice" to serve.

But we still gotta do something about those smart-mouthed punks!

[Catch22]

Rangel has unsuccessfully sponsored similar legislation in the past. He said the all-volunteer military puts the burden of war on minorities and poor families.

I'm sure the draft is going to fix this little problem. From everything I've read/heard about the last time the draft was used, it didn't.

[EFD840]

It's funny to me. In the 2004 presidential election, the Democratic party tried to woo young voters by saying there would be a draft if Bush were re-elected. Then and now, any drumbeating to reinstate the draft is coming from Rangel and a few of his Democratic cronies but you watch, MTV and other left leaning groups will be out blaming Republicans for the idea.

Rangel's logic is also totally FUBAR. First, a draft makes it easier to fill your manpower needs and second, the affluent always can find a way to buck the system. It would be far easier to deploy troops if you 1) don't have to worry about hacking off lots of contributors and 2) don't have to worry about the impact that an unpopular deployment will have on recruiting.

Old Charlie has a cog loose....

[Steamer]

This is and always has been Rangel's way a demonstrating against the war. He feels that once there is what he calls a "blood investment" on the part of the "rich and powerful" as he calls them, we'll be bringing troops home shortly thereafter. I really don't think he has a real expectation of this passing. It's not the first time he's actually introduced something like this, nor is it anything new in his schtique.


As for registering for the draft, I remember registering when "hitting the lottery" was not something you hoped for.

[MalahatTwo7]

But freedom is all about the "Free" will. And as I get older, I tend to agree more that it should mean the "choice" to serve.

But we still gotta do something about those smart-mouthed punks!

Well said Martin. As a guy with very close to 20 yrs active, as a VOLUNTEER (LOL) in the Armed Forces, I would rather work beside a guy who actually "asked" to join rather than the guy who was "told" to join.

My Grandfather volunteered for WWII, and as such was accorded many training and posting opportunities (if you'd like to call them that) over what he referred to as "Zombies" - the guys who were drafted to the army at that time.

Zombies were the guys who went the regiments and to the parts of the army that needed filling at the time. The volunteer guys had some pick of which element they wanted, army, navy or air force, and they got to more or less pick the jobs they wanted too. As well they were afforded the chance to change jobs if they wanted. My Grandfather joined the Army as part of the artillery, but by 1941/42 when they started asking for vollies to the newly formed airborne regiments, he "jumped" at the chance. Of course his reason for that was to get closer to home, and his new wife. The jump training was being conducted close to his home town. Of course that gave ample chance to head overseas real soon afterwards.

Just before D-Day they decided that his eyesight was not quite to "spec" and they took him off the jump lines. His next job was with the mechanics in Logistics. Of course that did get him into mainland Europe after most of the fighting was done, and he went over as part of the clean-up crews for some of the Camps.......

Anyhow, I'd rather have a guy beside me who chose to be there, rather than a guy who got send "just because we need a warm body in that trench".

[BFDNJFF]

[QUOTE=Ladder8]I read about mutts like Rangel - who aren't fit to even lick the boots of MEN like this one: [QUOTE]


Ummmm Rangel may be a wacko but he still is a Korean War Vet who happens to have a Purple Heart.