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Originally Posted by publius42
Wow, I just turned 45, so I'm off the hook.
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You young whipper-snapper!
Don't worry, nobody is going to need US to repel any invaders soon.
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Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer
I would disagree about why we have an all-volunteer army. It was the fallout of VietNam where many were drafted for an unsuccessful war and those in the know avoided the draft if they didn't want to go.
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Now this is a topic we could really go on about but it would be a different thread. Actually, Vietnam was the excuse THIS time. Drafts have always been very unpopular in peacetime and war as well. See Draft Riots in NY during the Civil War. America's populace has always been very anti-militaristic even though it's policies may not not have been.
"Those in the know" as you call them ALWAYS found ways to stay out of the military whether it was paying for a substitute during the Civil War or working in a "defense related" industry during WWII. Americans don't like military life (I can understand that having over 20 years of it myself) and they would much rather pay others to do it for them.
Actually some historians credit the establishment of "mercenary" legions in Rome as the beginning of the end of their empire. Interesting?