While I was in NY the other week I got into a conversation about the draft with Caroline and her mother. Caroline's brother has just turned 18, so the entire topic of required military service is a rather relevant conversation. I have always had a sort of removed view on the whole thing--I am female, so it is not something I have had to even consider as a possibility--my self-preservation has not had it as a reality, so it's backburner. And who would think there would be any possibility of a draft within our generation? That was our parents, not us.
This was still my subconscious mindset when Caroline's mother brought up some rather eye-opening information. There is a bill in Congress right now to reinstate the draft. If the draft were to be reinstated to provide bodies for Dubya and Cheney's oil protection, there would be no deferments: not for education, not for money; not for gender. Wait, what? Women would be drafted as well?
So all Americans between the ages of 18 and 26 would have the possibility to be drafted?
The issue just jumped to the front burner.
Personally I would not be able to serve, do to my back problems (I hope?) but I worry about my friends and family.
Having listened to my parents talk about losing friends and classmates to an unpopular and dishonest war...if there's any legacy I don't want to carry on, it's that one.
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