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How war affected children
How does a war affect children
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Conscription, also known as drafting, is a practice that requires mandatory enlisting into any of the branches of the armed forces. This practice has been adopted by the United States at the very least two times before and from what I can remember during World War II and the Civil War conscription was being practiced. Nowadays conscription is not practiced in the United States because there isn’t a need for it. Now, if you want to join the army you can do so by volunteering. However, there are people who believe conscription should be brought back. Some people believe that the drafting of younger people might help these young people develop useful skills and cultivate a sense of unity and national pride. Although all of these are valid reasons, …show more content…
Democracy is about choices, and conscription gives us no room to make a choice. Scientists have proven that teenagers haven’t fully develop their mental capacities and brains. If you ever wonder why something you couldn’t fully comprehend in sixth grade, “suddenly” made sense in 10th grade it might be because your brain was and still is developing. You see, there is a region in the brain called the frontal cortex, and it controls reasoning. This area doesn’t develop until later on. This is actually known as one of the reasons as to why teenagers are usually more impulsive than adults. Teenagers tend to act before they think (since the frontal cortex is in charge of this!). Where am I going with this? What effects could the experience of war have in such young undeveloped brains? How can we send these young minds out onto a battlefield when they can’t fully grasp the concept of war and its effects? If they aren’t reasoning and having an idea of what killing another person does to a human being, then they will not be able to understand the …show more content…
If you want to go to war, go ahead. I will not stop you from doing something that is obviously keeping our nation as safe as possible but that’s a long way from what conscription is. No teenager is ready for war, including myself. Is anyone really ever ready for war? No, of course not. However, it should at least be your own choice. America is supposed to be the land of the free and brave. You can’t be free if you don’t have the liberty to choose whether you will join the armed forces or not. Conscription eradicates our basic human rights while simultaneously disregarding the importance of education, free will, and child development and for these reasons I strongly disagree with
...e unnecessary moneymakers, products of lies and deception behind the scenes, orchestrated by powerful and rich men who usually never suffer but, rather, gain from their machinations to create war. I support a National Service Obligation system that would draft all persons, at age 18, to serve for 18 months in some form of public service. This would allow American citizens to contribute to the country in different ways. But it should be one?s own decision how to contribute to the country. As said before, I believe that reinstating the military draft will not increase patriotism or a sense of duty, but will rather decrease the effectiveness of the military and will create huge protest feeling among country?s citizens. Therefore we should explore every possible way to contribute the country?s future instead of just putting our future and ourselves in the Meat Grinder.
Ever since the first war involving America started, there have been countless discussions on who should fight for our country. There are talks of age, gender, and if the service should be voluntary or not. In America, serving is voluntary, although, in other countries, it is not. The service should stay voluntary in America because if not, it would go against freedom and it would be a source of newfound problems within our country. Also, if youth took off two years of their lives to serve, they would not gain experience to work in the fields that need more work force.
The American military draft was put into affect in 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act. The draft was a system that was an involuntary requirement of those who were of age and proper health. Young American men between the ages of eighteen and twenty five who were in good health and of a stable mental state were required by the government to register. These men would register with the Selective Service therefore they could be found easily in a time of need. The draft required these young men to sign up to serve their country involuntarily because it was to benefit the country, to make it easier to respond and protect in a time of war or crisis. In 1973,
Generally, reinstating the Constitutional draft would solidify the meaning of being an American citizen. Often, wealthier and more privileged people are able to ask for exemption from serving, which makes representation of soldiers in combat composed of less-privileged citizens. With compulsory conscription, all American citizens, men or women, ages 18-26 are subject to be recruited for the armed forces. In fact, only 4 members of the 107th Congress who voted in favor of the Iraq war had children serving there. Politicians would know how it feels to have loved ones in a war, instead of freely speaking about wartime without experiencing it in any way.1 Moreover, Americans feel that public support for war in foreign countries is not strong because the soldiers fighting are p...
There is a Time and a place for everything, for instance there were times when a militarized force wasn’t nearly large enough for an impending war as necessary to stand even that of a fighting chance towards victory. Our nation’s solution to this problem was creating the military draft, which most recently was used during the Vietnam War. The military draft, or Selective Service System, is Conscription, or in other words “forced labor demanded by some established authority” (Worddiq). “From 1948 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means.” (Landscaper) 2/3 of the American troops entered in that war were volunteers, while the other third were all draftees by lottery by birth. (Roush) Some might say "hey that’s only one third of our military, that’s not too many draftees." The only problems with that statement would be that the war itself didn't move towards our favor even with the draft. The draftees went through a rushed training session and entered a battlefield with nearly no experience what-so-ever, on or off the battlefield.
“First, conscription doesn’t save much cash. It costs money to manage and enforce a draft- history demonstrates that not every inductee would go quietly. Conscripts serve shorter terms and reenlist less frequently, increasing turnover, which is expensive. And unless the government instituted a Czarist lifetime draft, everyone beyond the first ranks would continue to expect to be paid” (Forbes). Even though “The military not only provides training in a range of specialties; it also offers educational benefits for veterans-- including many from underprivileged back grounds-- that might not be available under a mandatory
Over forty years has passed since the United States inducted the last draftee through the Selective Service System. The Selective Service System is an independent agency of the United States, which gives the President the right or power to conscript men for military service. There have been different Acts passed by congress since 1917 that require men of various ages to register for service. Although, the name of each Act and the age requirements of the registries changed, the Acts were all similar in nature. They all gave the President the right to call men to war when he deemed necessary. In January 1973, Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced the creation of the all-volunteer service, retracting the need for the draft (GAO.gov). Under current law, all men between the ages of 18-25 must register within 30 days of their 18th birthday, however this information is used mostly for recruitment purposes and in case of any future crisis. There has been much controversy over this matter since the Vietnam War, when people started to realize the draft was unfair due to loopholes and draft exemptions making the draft unfair for working men. At one point in time the military draft may have been necessary, but today’s all-volunteer military has eliminated the need for a draft.
The Conscription Act delivered the final straw in the long list of discrepancies, the catalyst that turned that small forest fire into a raging inferno of hate and fear. The white working class (mostly Irish immigrants) were infuriated, they couldn’t understand how they, white, hard-working voters were being punished. The government was forcing them to fight a war they didn’t support and the only way they could avoid it was to pay 300 dollars (a years wages for most), yet they would pay African Americans 1,000 dollars for volunteering. The new federal draft conditions also expanded to include a wider age range of men it would take. “The conscription law targeted men between the ages of 20 and 35, and all unmarried men up to age 45.” Adding to the already high tensions of laborers, since the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation they ...
In the month of April of 1862, the government issued the first draft of the Civil War. Throughout the war, they put out drafts because so many men were needed to fight. Citizens were expected to obey these orders, and as the war progressed, it was harder and harder for men to avoid fighting for their country. Towards the end, the government began forcing almost every able man to enlist in the army. Men of ages 17-50 were drafted in the South (20-45 in the North); bodies were needed. And the government made sure that they got what they needed.
Being a young adult between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five can be very difficult. I know this because I am twenty-two years old. At this age, there are many concerns about the future and a career. Making many important decisions which will affect the rest of your life is common during these ages. This is the age when the majority of people are getting married, having families, and buying houses of their own. Many young men and women of this age group are graduating from college and ready to start their careers. Being a young adult can be very challenging; however, it can be the best time of life. These aspects of a young adult's life were not that much different during the Vietnam time period. Unfortunately, many of these men were not able to make these decisions. Millions of men were forced, drafted, into a battle that many "considered to be illegal and immoral (Maxwell 37). It's hard to imagine basically being forced to put life on hold, leave family, and risk life fighting a war. Some men were opposed to the draft, and were determined to find ways to avoid it; on the other hand, many men accepted the terms of the draft. I believe a person has a right to make his own decision about fighting in a war. In the Vietnam time era, the concerns of a man who was getting drafted went from bettering his and his families’ life to deciding to go to war or find an alternative. Going to war meant personal hardships, loss of income, leaving family, and potential of losing one's life. I can understand a person’s determination to avoid the draft. Whatever choice the men made, the consequences were dangerous and sometimes deadly. Until 1973, the choices of draft age men were to serve in the military, receive a deferment if qualified and ava...
...itary conscription in the name of freedom is an illegitimate, criminal organization. A government that is willing to enslave people cannot be trusted to protect your liberty. A government that forces people to fight for its goals, its protection, and its benefit has created a morally perverse situation where there is no free society left to defend” (Boldin). Another thing we must look at is without an overflow of troops; “unpopular wars are very difficult to fight. The ability to use conscription actually encourages politicians to wage even more wars;the massive resources are a temptation that is hard for the war-lover to resist. When the draft was finally undermined in the 1970′s, for example, the Vietnam War ended” (Boldin).
There are plenty of arguments for why the draft is wrong and unlawful, or even unconstitutional. When it comes down to basics, sending people involuntarily to war does sound pretty far from freedom of choice, but there is more to it than that. Understanding that it is a free country is one thing, but freedom comes at a price. Everyone wants to be free but not everyone realizes that there are times when we must fight to maintain our well-earned freedom. It is impossible in some cases to fight a full- blown war with just a volunteer army, and if it threatens our freedom, than we must fight the war with volunteers and draftees alike. In technicality, it may be wrong, but realistically, there are many times when a draft really is needed, and if run the correct way, it can be very effective.
The men who send young boys to die have not fought in a war themselves and do not know the horrors of war. With the involvement of the majority of men and women participating in the military, the call of war will be more thought out and certain.
The United States is an extremely affluent country, however, the U.S. government does not allocate its funds correctly. The government spends entirely too much of the budget on military spending. A segment of the military budget should go towards education. Education is completely undervalued in America and is often pushed to the side in political debates. Conversely, several of the top-ranked countries in education are also flourishing economically. Even though the U.S. is struggling to compete in education, the government has all but given up at this point. There are no signs of increased education spending or a decrease in military spending. How is this country supposed to continue to grow and move forward if the citizens
I know your belief in conscription is a big thing but in a way it is a cruel thing. Against someone’s will sending him or her away to fight in a war that they may not believe in in the first place. Conscription in a war where fighting for your country is a good cause however fighting for someone’s beliefs is completely different.