Don posted: “Beware how easily these troops can shift from foreign adventures to domestic enforcement! I want a DRAFT Armed Forces!”
reply to post by Justin Oldham
I see that I'm rubbing off on you again. Just remember one thing. Conscripted troops will subjugate you easier than an all-volunteer force ever
would. In the AVF, there would be dissenters who could form the core of a resistence. In a conscripted army, the political officers would make sure
that there were no dissenters. I do not miss the old Soviet Union.
Maybe you have a good observation there Mr J/O. The worst example of a AVF boo-boo was the Ohio National Guard at Kent State. You guys either can’t
or won’t believe me when I tell you that during my 1949-1951 stint in the Army National Guard, we were never issued live ammo. Only senior NCOs
carried the real bullets. And they would not issue ammo until given an order by an officer.
I was in Korea in 1953-1954, and lived in 8 man tents. (As an AF type we boarded only 6 men in the 8 man rated army tent). AF types did not have a
issued weapon as Army infantry types would have. But in neither case, no soldier or airman is permitted to possess live ammo in his living quarters.
NONE.
I’ve seen the pictures of the May 4, 1970, ONG firing on the Kent State students 100s of times but to this day I do not know when and on whose
orders those Guardsmen were issued live ammo. Despite clumsy efforts on the part of both Federal and State officials to obfuscate, confuse or muddy
the waters, it was obvious none of the Guardsmen were endangered by the students they shot at and hit 4 students with fatal results. Nine more
students were wounded, some at great distances from the alleged provoking incident.
See Note 1.
I suppose I base my wariness on the AVF mostly on my own experiences. Although I was a "volunteer" in the Air Force, let’s face it, the operating
draft might have pushed me to “Join Up.” In 1952, when I enlisted, the draft was for 2 years, with service in either the Army’s Infantry or the
Marine Corps based on the new to me but widely used word “exigencies” of the Service. Being an untutored American, I pronounce it as “x - i -
gen - see - ‘s” with some slight emphasis on the “i.”
Back to story. If you submitted to the draft - you could “volunteer” for immediate drafting - you would be a “ground pounder” either in the
Army or the USMC. But the term of service was 24 months. The Army and the MC would accept your voluntary enlistment for 3 years, and give you the
choice of any open job you were qualified for. Or you could join the AF or the Navy both of which services had the reputation for high technology and
“softness” of discipline. For 4 years. I opted for the AF. I could not swim then (or now).
I was patriotic. I wanted to go to war. I wanted to defend my country but not against the Red Menace. I never bought into that. Even then I was aware
of the exploited "people of color" around the world by white capitalists. I was never then or now afraid of competing ideologies. Yes, I liked
Castro in 1959. I like Castro in 2008 and I liked him in all the years in between. The Cubans who moved here are or were the rich and famous or
lackeys of US corporations or the Mafia. Aside from their endless grumbling over losing their money, they have produced next to nothing of
noteworthiness up here.
I enlisted in 1952 while the Korean War was going full force. But, I also wanted to sleep on clean sheets at night. That’s my vision of waging war.
Fight like hell all day, sleep soundly at night after a refreshing shower and sit down to a hot meal. Hey, War is Hell! (Generally fewer than 10% of
any armed forces get close enough to the enemy to shoot back).
So, I said a lot to say that despite being a “volunteer” I was in the same general mental state - frame of mind - as any other 18 year old subject
to the draft. The AF was not the MC. We were not expected to charge a machine gun nest. I did not need to practice throwing a hand grenade. We were
not expected to sleep in the mud and eat cold K rations. There was a choice and I made mine. It was, after all, still a free country.
My #1. The Air Force - my experience was from 1952 to 1964 - never engaged in propaganda. In fact, we heard very little to nothing at all from the
higher ups. We were treated more like factory workers. We had a job, we had our hours, and we worked 5.5 days a week. In all my time in the AF I
received ONE 3 day pass. No need, we were “off" every weekend. Unless we had “stand-by” duty. I fully recommend the AF to any young person.
For #2, it’s the Army’s Field Artillery. My Army job was sitting on my arse in the shade of a large tent, the Fire Control Center, calculating
range settings for the 155 howitzers in my unit, called in by the real risk takers, the FOs. Forward observers.
Bu I still want a draft.
Note 1. On May 14, 1970, Jackson State University in Jackson, MS, was the scene of another abuse of police power! Police OUTSIDE a building at the
college fired many, many shots - 110 by one count of holes - INTO a building killing 2 students in the building and wounding 12 others. Self defense
the Mississippi State Police averred. You hear a lot about Kent State (white students) but you rarely hear about Jackson State (black students).
On June 12, 1963, in Jackson, MS, civil rights worker Medgar Evers was shot and killed in ambush by a Ku Klux Klan leader. At one of the 3 trials of
Edgar’s assassin Mississippi’s ex-governor Ross Barnett and retired US Army Major General Edwin A. Walker - of Lee Harvey Oswald notoriety -
appeared as character witnesses for Byron De La Beckwith who was convicted in 1994 by a reforming state AG. He died in prison in 2001, I'm happy to
report.
On June 21, 1964, civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were murdered by a mob that included Ku Klux Klan and a
country deputy sheriff, near Philadelphia, MS just 98 miles from Jackson. A reign of terror was ruling over Mississippi. Racism in America? When is it
NOT?
[edit on 3/14/2008 by donwhite]
