Sunday, February 03, 2013

ALL VOLUNTEER FORCE

The French have an all voluntary military, (as we do) which distances the population from the cost of war and makes soldiers less visible to the populace at large." (In America, we have closed posts with no real savings. People have no exposure to a military uniform, maybe on TV)It has made the (French) Army more popular with an approval rating of between 80-90 percent. (Americans say they support the troops regardless of their feelings of the war). I doubt it to the degree they are not joining up. America has a good military but they come from the lower socio economic strata of American society. Former SecDef Mel Laid and Milt Friendman sold the American people who care on the Volumtary Army. And, for those guys being so smart, they were stupid, if good salesmen. They sold the idea on the notion that conscription was not democratic. How utterly absurd. The draft with all it's flaws was truly the epitome of democracy. Nothing is less so than today's American military forces. If you think I'm whistling Dixie, asked around how many doctors, lawyers, Wall Street tycoons or Ivy League types join the military.