Rangled
Wednesday, November 29th, 2006“I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.” – Charles Rangel, Congressman from the 15th “Hugo Chavez” Congressional District of New York
Still loathing Charlie? May I be so forward as to point out for you who isn’t too bright? It’s every person in the New York 15th Congressional District that voted for you. No one with two functioning brain cells to spark together could possibly send you to the Congress of the United States. Unless, of course, they all think like you do and if that’s the case then they’re double stupid.
I do agree with you on one thing Charlie. We need to reinstate the draft.
I enlisted into the Army in 1971. I believe it was around the first time the dupes of New York sent you to Congress. The draft was still going on then, if you recall. I enlisted with two other destitute hillbillies and one hippie that I met in the recruiting office on North Clark Street in Chicago. We were all losers, too stupid to run off to Canada or hang out in Old Town wearing peace symbols and smoking left-handed cigarettes. If we would only have known that President Jimmah was going to give out amnesty later. The Army sent us to Fort Ord, California. Yep, right on Monterey Bay and Carmel by the Sea. It was not a Soldier friendly place then. We didn’t get to see much of it anyway. We were too consumed with learning how to stay alive should we end up fighting the rich man’s war in Vietnam.
Just to prove what a loser I was, I didn’t make it through my first try in basic training. I spent two of my first three weeks in the hospital, nothing too serious just a bout of blood poisoning from an infected blister. So, I had to start over. The Army had a sense of humor though. With one week in the Army, they put me in a hospital ward filled with Combat medical evacuees from Vietnam. It kept me focused right through training.
My first company was mostly draftees, with a few National Guard and Reservists tossed in for fun along with a hand full of us Regular Army (RA) Volunteer losers. My second company was quite different. It was mostly Army Reservists and National Guardsmen. Again, with just a dusting of us RA loser-types tossed in for flavor. These Reservists and Guardsmen were an interesting collection in 1971. Wealthy kids, college educated kids, a couple of lawyers, and even a couple of professional athletes. One Reservist, a lawyer, I swear I ain’t making this up Charlie, told me he was there to add military service to his political resume. There was one Division I football player; don’t recall the name, from a Guard unit, played for one of the South East Conference Schools. He lost 40 pounds in basic training and was afraid it’d hurt his chances to play and be drafted into the NFL.
They promoted me at the end of basic training Charlie. Hard to believe isn’t it? I mean me being stupid and all and going through training with those well educated, bright career minded rich people. In those days Charlie, the top few Soldiers in a company earned a promotion at the end of basic training. Degrees and status didn’t mean squat if you weren’t bright enough to read a map, couldn’t shoot straight, or complete a forced march without ending up riding on the mess hall truck. It helped my self-esteem tremendously too listen to people who were accustomed to getting rather than earning, whine about not being promoted. Anyway, back to the draft.
When we reinstate it Charlie, there has to be some rule changes this time around. We don’t want any deferments. Nope, none, not any except for maybe some medical reasons. If you’re over 18 years old and out of high school, you’re eligible. We also don’t want enlisting in a Reserve or Guard Unit to exempt you from conscription into the Regular Army. We have to draft women too. Mothers? Not a problem. The Army has an excellent family care program. Dual serving parents and single parents have made it work for years. Gays? Them too. Not just those who want to prove that gays can be good Soldiers, hell, we believe them. Draft them all. Rosie in boot camp, what a thought. Conscientious Objectors? No problem. We need a service corps of janitors, grass cutters, laundry doers, cooks…. draft them too. Heck, we might be able to replace Halliburton with COs. That’s a liberal dream ain’t it? Remember Project 100,000? That was one of LBJ’s and McNamara’s Great Society scams. They brought in “new-standards” Soldiers hoping to give them a leg up on improving their societal lot. Stuff like high school diplomas, being able to read and write and not having criminal records became optional. So bring that back also. We need to live up to your expectations of the military in that regard.
Then there is the part about draft dodgers. I’m thinking a mandatory prison sentence equal to the time they might have served otherwise. We’d also have to come up with something that forbids President Hillary from later offering them amnesty. We could house them at Guantanamo.
After all, Charlie, the way we’re acting we don’t need the magnificent force we have. You exceptionally bright politicians, who make careers out of Congress because you can’t hold real jobs, are going to crap out on them anyway. Because it’s what you do. You lose wars. Like Vietnam. Remember? Sure you do.
Problem is Charlie, do you think these highly professional Volunteer Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines will choose to stay on when idiots like you, for whom they so willingly sacrifice, prevent them once again from victory after so many of their Brothers and Sisters were lost to the cause? It’ll be another open chapter for them Charlie, a very painful one. But, that isn’t your problem is it?
It took our military many years to recover from the political blunders and idiocy of Vietnam. Are you willing to gamble that we can do it again? And, soon enough? You better get that draft ready Charlie.
Copyright © 2006 J.D. Pendry
