Thursday, July 07, 2011

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

In the mail in 1972, young Americans were still getting draft notices amidst the knowledge that tens of thousands of Americans had been killed. Anti-war protests were rampant. Draft notices were being publically burned and returning soldiers were treated as part of the problem. The military was at a low ebb.

I was drafted the day I got marroed. I was pretty taken aback that the return address was the White House. Jokingly, I was impressed that President Richard Nixon would write to me.

I opened it up and I think it said, "Greetings from the president of the United States." It was a form letter that said my friends and neighbors had selected me to represent them in the Armed Forces and I was hereby ordered to report for active duty. Say What!

With all the views about the draft, an unintended consequence, is that we have a somewhat mercenary military and a total lack of investment in our three wars--only 1% of Americans are making any sacrifice in any way for our involvement.