The Afghanistan War: Absurdity or Necessity?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by 3894

Can, too. Only we need to do it 110%, which requires a lot of "boots on the ground", which requires a draft and for which there is no political will or popular support.

If a war is not worth a draft and the resulting flack from the general U.S. populace, then it's not worth fighting. No more wars on the cheap.

I was just reading about how many other wars that we have fought have been done "cheaply". The Revolutionary War and the Civil War had poor funding and the same wrangling over cost that our recent wars have.

I haven't read enough about WWII to find out whether it had the same problem but I think having a military attack by a foreign gov't on our soil plus oh yeah, Hitler, made that war (or rather, those wars) something no one would oppose.

I have to say I agree with you in a very broad way - if a war is not worth a draft, then it's not worth fighting. I'm sure there's gray area to be found there somewhere, but still...

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I have to say I agree with you in a very broad way - if a war is not worth a draft, then it's not worth fighting. I'm sure there's gray area to be found there somewhere, but still...

Perhaps the gray area is a military which had enough troops when the war started, but as it dragged on personnel numbers began to shrink despite stop-losses and recalls as people stopped enlisting, re-enlisting. So now a war that began with sufficient manpower no longer has that man power.

Afghanistan started 8 years ago. The fresh 18 year old's who enlisted right after 9/11 are now 26, if they served out an 8 year contract. People who turn 18 this year were 10 when it began. They are no longer enlisting in a military that was more about life experience and college money with a chance of seeing combat and instead enlisting in a military where they will more than likely end up in a combat zone (somewhere) and life experience & college money come later.

I gave myself a deadline for finding a job. If I hadn't found one by my next birthday attempting OCS for the Air Force was at the top of the last of my options. I won't hide that the fact that we are at war, and live in the climate that we do ranked that option at the top of my last options.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I haven't read enough about WWII to find out whether it had the same problem but I think having a military attack by a foreign gov't on our soil plus oh yeah, Hitler, made that war (or rather, those wars) something no one would oppose.

I think a decent number of people thought that it was not our war.

Regarding Pearl Harbor, perhaps it's hair splitting, and I'm guessing, too, but I would think the emotional resonance came from the attack being on our military combined with the loss of life, rather than on "our soil." I don't know how attached we were then to a possession 3,000 miles west of a state that didn't even have a baseball team yet.

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I have to say I agree with you in a very broad way - if a war is not worth a draft, then it's not worth fighting. I'm sure there's gray area to be found there somewhere, but still...

I'd agree if the military agreed that everyone who was fit to serve was fit to serve.