Feeling a Draft?; Newsweek's youth columnist discusses her generation's take on rumors of a reinstated draft
By Traci E. Carpenter / Newsweek
For my generation, a draft only occurs when someone leaves the door open on a breezy day.
But with five weeks until the election, and a military stretched to capacity in the Middle East, the word has taken on a much different meaning that threatens to change our whole way of life.
In a recent talk at Michigan State University, Michael Moore, on his 60-city "Slackers Uprising" tour, brought 3,000 students to their feet as he warned of the impending dangers of a second Bush administration. He and other liberals insist that a re-election of Bush will guarantee the reinstatement of the draft. At Thursday's debate, Democratic candidate John Kerry asserted a de facto draft is already underway. "We've got [National Guard] and reserves that are doing double duty," he said. "We have a backdoor draft." Whether or not this is just a scare tactic to get the youth to the polls, it might just work.
Unlike generations before us, we did not grow up during a time of perpetual war and fear of nuclear attack. As children of the '90s, we were raised in an era of prosperity and, besides a few humanitarian missions and military interventions here and there, peace. How can we fathom being sent to die for a war we did not start when our parents were discouraged from even spanking us as children?
We have no concept of a lottery that determines who lives and who dies. We've heard the stories from our fathers, uncles and neighbors. We've seen the images in textbooks of draft cards in flames, tearful goodbyes and soldiers returning in body bags. So far, we've been able to contain the draft to a page in our history books, but with an overworked and understaffed military in Iraq and Afghanistan, these stories and images are creeping a little too close to home.
President Bush assures us, if he is re-elected, there will remain no need for a draft. But, he is also the same man who promised us a quick victory and warm welcome in Iraq. A year and a half later, casualties are at their highest rates yet. With 40 percent of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan already National Guard and reserves and few allied armies in sight, Bush will need to look elsewhere for more soldiers to maintain his war, especially with Iran and North Korea demanding more attention than we can presently give.
Only time will tell how long it takes for him to turn his attention to the other 18-25-year-olds not yet in uniform. It's not surprising that the most overlooked constituency of this nation is the one to bear the most physical burden of this frivolous war--it's just sad. And it is not the fortunate sons and daughters of congressmen and women fighting overseas, it is poor people and minorities who are risking their lives for an administration that doesn't fight for them at home.
Our generation has strong beliefs that we would be willing to fight for any day, but oil and corporate greed are not two of them. Had we focused on the true threats to our security that attacked us on 9/11, perhaps more of us would be willing to serve.
Whether or not the draft is eventually reinstated, the fact that it's even being mentioned is enough to worry students on campuses across the country. In Vietnam, students had the option to defer as long as they remained full-time students pursuing a degree. Today, we probably wouldn't have that option. If the order was given to reinstate the draft, we would have as few as six months before the first sons and brothers (and, probably, daughters and sisters), are shipped off. Six months, and we could all be trading in our spring-break trips for a one-way ticket to basic training. Our finals would be in the deserts of the Middle East with dire consequences for failure.
We can breathe easy only until after Nov. 2. Neither candidate will admit to the possibility of implementing a draft if he is elected, which can't be too surprising to anyone involved. Even the slickest spin doctors couldn't cook up a good bumper sticker for that platform, and mothers don't often vote for the candidate who threatens to send her son to war.
After the vote, we'll know whether the Internet-fueled frenzy over the word is just unfounded hype or is in fact a serious threat. But our generation cannot afford to leave our fate to chance. Students, slackers and young adults of all creeds must rise up and let our government know we won't be used as, in Moore's words, weapons of mass destruction. Hopefully we can close the door on the issue before the government starts knocking on ours.
AI
