Re: recent trends in SF

On Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:10:38 -0500, Mike Ash
<mike@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:mike-58D945.13103815122010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

In article <BMmdnUxOf64LGJXQnZ2dnUVZ_rCdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Mike Ash wrote:

I knew that would rile up some military people.

I have to ask, though: why the sigh? I assume you
disagree, but how, specifically? Security seems fairly
obvious; being drafted into an army in wartime is not
safe, and you stand a good chance of serious injury or
death. Freedom seems obvious too, as you are forced to
obey your employer under penalty of imprisonment and
not allowed to quit. While you're not allowed to dodge
the draft either, it is in practice much easier to do
so than it is to desert once you're in service.

I was drafted during war time. I never considered
dodging the draft. It would have been easy, since I had
five 4F medical ratings that would prevent me from
enlisting when I got the draft notice.

I never considered deserting, even after being told I was
awaiting orders for the AFRTS TV station in Vietnam.
Instead, I got what was considered worse duty. A year
at the US Army Cold Weather Research Facility at Ft.
Greely, AK. A couple months later I learned that the
station I was supposed to be assigned to in Vietnam was
over run and the engineering staff killed.

If you aren't man enough to fulfill your obligations, you
don't deserve to be a US citizen.

[...]

In short, you have no argument, just a bunch of non
sequiturs. I claim that being drafted deprives you of
freedom and security, and you offer absolutely no
counter to those claims, just a bunch of other stuff
that's not really related.

He also ignores the fact that most of us didn't have the
choice that his medical history offered him. For most of
us, *not* dodging the draft was the easier of unpleasant
choices, the one requiring less effort and less moral
courage. I was lucky: I spent my entire time after Basic at
Ft. Carson, where I had relatively interesting desk jobs
working for pretty decent people. But after all these years
I'm if anything even more ambivalent about the choice that I
made.

[...]

Brian
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: recent trends in SF
    ... dodging the draft. ... awaiting orders for the AFRTS TV station in Vietnam. ... at the US Army Cold Weather Research Facility at Ft. ... freedom and security, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: recent trends in SF
    ... dodging the draft. ... at the US Army Cold Weather Research Facility at Ft. ... freedom and security, ... I wanted to serve and was denied. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: recent trends in SF
    ... you're not allowed to dodge the draft either, ... Which has nothing to do with whether I gave up freedom or security ... A year at the US Army Cold Weather Research ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Rep. Murtha, USMC Traitor, Wants Lottery for Citizens Army
    ... Rep. John Murtha Wants Lottery for 'Citizens Army' ... Seeking to boost the movement to reinstitute a military draft, ... "This is one of the smallest armies we've had since before World War II, ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Rep. Murtha, USMC Traitor, Wants Lottery for Citizens Army
    ... Rep. John Murtha Wants Lottery for 'Citizens Army' ... Seeking to boost the movement to reinstitute a military draft, ... "This is one of the smallest armies we've had since before World War II, ...
    (alt.politics)