Heinlein Vindicated, Obama Tested
Early in the Vietnam War (1961) Robert Heinlein famously said:
I also think there are prices too high to pay to save the United States. Conscription is one of them. Conscription is slavery, and I don't think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called. We have had the draft for twenty years now; I think this is shameful. If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say : Let the damned thing go down the drain!
While Heinlein (1907-1988) lived to see the end of conscription, he did not live long enough to see what that force could do in time of war.
Operation Desert Storm (aka Gulf War I, 1991) proved that force was second to none.
Operation Iraqi Freedom (aka Gulf War II, 2003-2008) proved that the all volunteer armed forces of the United States could conduct and win a war (and a counter insurgency) despite the active opposition of the Left.
Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan, 2001-) will test what a man of the left can do with that all volunteer force.
I also think there are prices too high to pay to save the United States. Conscription is one of them. Conscription is slavery, and I don't think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called. We have had the draft for twenty years now; I think this is shameful. If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say : Let the damned thing go down the drain!
While Heinlein (1907-1988) lived to see the end of conscription, he did not live long enough to see what that force could do in time of war.
Operation Desert Storm (aka Gulf War I, 1991) proved that force was second to none.
Operation Iraqi Freedom (aka Gulf War II, 2003-2008) proved that the all volunteer armed forces of the United States could conduct and win a war (and a counter insurgency) despite the active opposition of the Left.
Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan, 2001-) will test what a man of the left can do with that all volunteer force.