Question to parents of possibly draft eligible children

[tarheel]

I just wanted to get a take on how other DUers, with teenage sons and daughters, feel about the possibility of draft being re-instated.

:scared:

I have a 16 1/2 year old son at home and it terrifies me to think about *'s continuing policy of pre-emption carrying on for four more years. If it does, the I don't see how the military can possibly be prepared to activate enough personel to fight in all of the skirmishes * will get us into, much less protect the homeland from possible attacks.

I have wrestled with this recently as to what I would do if the draft was re-instated. I do believe there are some things worth fighting and dying for, and I would be the first to take up arms with my fellow Americans, if there was a real and present threat to us. For example, Al-Qeada marching down my street killing my neighbors and coming for my family or me, or China attacking the US mainland, or North Korea slipping a nuke into the US.

But this Iraq war is totally unjustified, and I will be damned if I will send my son over there to die so * and his cronies can get richer than they already are and fulfill their wet dreams of world domination.


:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:



I really believe these neo-cons in the White House right now are paralell to Blowfeld and the other megalomaniacal villains on the Bond movies trying to achieve world domination.

I find myself thinking of how proud I would be to have my son come to me and tell me that he wants to go and fight out some sense of patriotism or duty, but I come back to thinking that an eighteen year old does not really realize what a decision like that really means.
I wonder if I could watch him get on that bus to the induction center or would I be able to take the baseball bat to his knees...

Do any of you parents out there have any words of encouragement ?


:shrug:



(all edits to correct spelling)

[ewagner]

1. My son will be 22 in September

And I am a bit worried.

I know him pretty well, I think and I believe that if he were "ordered" to report, that he would do so because of his respect for the law. He wouldn't like it one bit, and, most likely, try to find some way to fulfill the obligation on his own terms....but he probably wouldn't try to evade it entirely.

It would take some blatant, outrageous action BEYOND what the Bushco*s have already done to make him willfully disobey the law. (Like declaring martial law of some other extreme measure.)

For my part, I would worry incessantly...no matter which branch he endedup in......

[tarheel]

4. I understand your thinking ewagner

but (and I probably shouldn't print this on a public forum, but its how I feel) I feel that we have an obligation and duty to defy the law when that law tells us to do something immoral and wrong.

The law be damned !

My sons and daughter are more important to me that anything in this world and I would willingly rot in prison if it meant that my children were safe and out of the grip of * and his minions of lunatics.

I believe we have a right to self defense and if tat were the case I would support the draft in times of dire need to protect ourselves, but that is not the case now and I don't think I could live with myself if I let my children be sacrificed in this cause.

[mindfulNJ]

2. I feel the same way...

I am the mother of A 19 year old boy and 20 year old girl. I don't know what we will all do if the draft is re-instated. Like you said...some causes may be worth dieing for, but this unecessary war in Iraq is NOT one of them...NOT EVEN CLOSE.

[bleedingheart]

3. my son is still too young

but my nephews are 18 and 17 and the possibility of a draft scares me to death.

I helped to take care of those boys and I love them dearly....They are also against the war...

I know my sister fears for them.

[hermetic]

7. Have a 16 yr old

Probably shouldn't say this out loud but if the right wingnuts win again I am simply out of here. I will ask for citizenship from another country.

[tarheel]

10. I feel that way to enuf

but I just cannot think of anyway to pull it off financially or I would be seriously considering it too.

[billybob537]

5. Call me what you will

I am a veteran but I would recommend going to Canada or anywhere else to avoid dying for Bush* lies!

[tarheel]

8. Hey billybob !

I have read reports that there are already bills drafted and under consideration in congressional committees to re-instate the draft and there have been discussions with the Canadian government to strictly monitor toursits and travlers and immigrants to specificaly prevent Americans from avoiding the draft.

I see this as no more honorable than the old British and sometimes pirate practices of shangahi'ing and conscripting people and forcing to serve against their will.

[billybob537]

17. Right!

If you can ride a horse you can cross the border. Our government doesn't put a priority on secure borders.:puke:

[NNN0LHI]

9. I would call you smart n/t

[hippiegranny]

6. expect navy enlistment to go up soon

my son in law is in the navy and although his battle group (out of san diego) went to the gulf during afghanistan, he was safe and during the iraq invasion, he continues to enjoy shore duty on coronado island.

maybe that is the answer for kids who might get drafted - have then volunteer for a branch of the military that isn't in direct harm's way, like the army and marines so obviously are.

[MercutioATC]

11. I have 2 draft-eligible brothers and a 13-year-old son.

...and one cousin in Iraq now (the military promised him he'd stay in Germany if he reenlisted...two weeks after he did, they sent him to Iraq).

I'm a relative pacifist...I don't even believe in spanking children.

That said, I wouldn't be "proud" if either of my brothers stated an intention to enlist. I'd beat them senseless, drag them into my basement, and restrain them until they changed their mind.

...sorry, I vote for the bat.

[tarheel]

12. I would have to disagree

with you Mercutio, only in that I do believe there is honor and righteousness in serving to protect and defend one's homeland...if... and get this right... that homeland suffers an uprovoked attack and there is imminent threat looming.

I know we did suffer an unprovoked attack on September 11, 2001, but that attack was carried out by individual religious extremists and not by Saddam Hussein, Iraq or its people.

[MercutioATC]

14. I completely agree. If we were defending this country, I'D volunteer

(if they'd take my old, 36-year-old ass).


I guess I wasn't clear in that...I'm sorry. In the present situation, however, I'd have to stick to my first post.

[bowens43]

13. Two sons 15 and 18.

If the draft is reinstated and they get called (well the 18 year old now, the younger one later)I will get them out of the country. I've already discussed this with them. They are not going to fight in bushes oil wars. This war , as you know , is not about patriotism or national security or fighting terrorism or freedom for the Iraqis .

This war was a war of choice not necessity. This war is about securing the oil fields of Iraq for later pillaging by the US oil corporations. The US is the invader, the aggressor, in this war. My sons will not participate.

[dr.strangelove]

15. The Draft may just be a good thing.

Several months back Reps Rangel and Conyers proposed legislation to reop the Draft, which was laughed at and mostly ignored. The reasons they favored the draft wasn't to support Bush's war (although it is funny to picture Rangel supporting any Bush idea), but to ensure that those making the war decisions had children at risk. The current populations of our armed forces is dominated by the lower income earners and children of lower income earners. If the draft could hit Bush's favorite nephew, or even his apple martini swilling daughters, he may think about the lives he is sending into battle a little more.

Rangel said, "I believe that if those calling for war knew that their children were likely to be required to serve – and to be placed in harm's way – there would be more caution and greater willingness to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq."

Conyers added that "It has unfortunately become the duty of someone else's child to go to war and die as the privileged evade the tragic consequences of war."

[hermetic]

16. The rich don't have to go

We all know this. Those kids get homebase duty or slip thru the Nat'l Guard type of thing. But none of them ever HAVE to go.

[tarheel]

18. mjf3 I do not

believe that for second if the draft was re-instituted, that any of the chickenhawks currently holding our government hostage would allow any of their loved ones to even come close to serving.

They have all shown that they are adept at avoiding placing their own asses on the line for this country and I don not think they would hestate for a second to do whatever necessary to see to it that their family and friends were shileded from danger also. All the while sending mine and your children off to die.

[bowens43]

19. No it will NOT be a good thing!!

This is a silly argument . If you believe for one moment that the children of the rich and powerful will be put in harms way then I have some ocean front property in Kansas you may interested in.

You really think the solution to war is to make more people available for fighting them? Do you know the ratio of 'rich and powerful' to 'average folks'? Here's a hint , for every 'rich and powerful' child who is drafted, hundreds if not thousands of 'average folks' will be drafted and they will the ones on the front lines. The rich and powerful will be out of harms way.

The draft will NOT be a good thing. If you think it is perhaps YOU should sign up or send YOUR kids to enlist but keep your hands the hell off of mine!!!

(don't take this personally. This is my standard rant to anyone who thinks it will be a good idea to put my children's life at risk)

[charlie]

20. If a no-exceptions draft

was enforced, the likes of Babs and Jenna would spend 4 years pulling kitchen duty in Topeka. Rich and powerful kids will never be endangered.

[bowens43]

21. You got that right.

There is no way the sons and daughters of the decision makers will EVER see battle.

[charlie]

22. That there's a paucity

of even desk jockey vets in the bloodthirsty Republican ranks, all of them prime-cut boomer Vietnam cannon fodder, should give anyone with a clue a good idea of what'll happen to their precious cupcakes. What's fixing a cloistered tour of duty to some backwater outpost, compared to stealing national elections, engineering third-world coups, gaming energy markets in California, or stampeding the country into war for electoral gain?

[Gothmog]

23. Parent of 18 year old son and 16 year old daughter

I am very scared of the draft. It is likely that the next draft will not have any college deferments or other loopholes. I am not sure what we would do if either of our kids are drafted. Hopefully, it will not come to this.