Bring back the draft
On the Fourth of July, I found myself rather weepy. No post-traumatic stress disorder, but I cannot forget those in my platoon in the last years of Vietnam, in a losing war. My platoon had many draftees who did their jobs admirably and made me proud!
I was sent to Vietnam after graduation from West Point with the right reasons: to fight aggression and do our duty to help those less fortunate. This was the norm at the time.
My father taught me service. He was an immigrant from Italy, served 30 years in the U.S. Army, was wounded in World War II, and never fully recovered. We faithfully put the flag up every morning on our ranch because he was a proud American.
Unfortunately, we cannot solve the world’s problems. Americans cannot die for supposed democracies, but the military must involve all Americans. We should return to a draft. A Roman citizen understood that there were benefits and obligations to being a citizen. The Nixon Doctrine stated that we will support and train weaker countries, but Americans cannot do the dying.
It’s easy to be a “hawk” politician, but war criteria should be, “Is this something for which you would send your son/daughter?”
Jim Bellotty
Sagle, Idaho