Trump "Tearing U.S. Apart"?

[Revoltingest]

Actually, Bill Clinton did get a lot of flak for being a "draft dodger." But by the time G.W. Bush was a candidate, he was also vulnerable to the same charge as "draft dodger," so it appears that both sides dropped that as a viable issue to attack someone with.

Bill & Dubya are old news.....I was just addressing the recent election.
Trump is still being attacked for it here.

 

[Revoltingest]

You've made two different analogies. Okay look, I am still half asleep cause it is past 7am here. Here is the deal, I voted for bernie because his views aligned with mine. I thought he was the best candidate for the U.S. But the DNC railroaded him but that is neither here nor there now.

As far as my military experience there is none cause I never joined because I was supposed to play Division 1 basketball. I didn't, so things turned out differently. I do have a military family. On my mother's side I have an uncle that was a frogman. On my dad's side I have two twin cousins (deceased) that were jarheads. What else you wanna know?

That is why if you met me I am yes sir nor sir kinda guy.

Greetings, fellow military service dodger!
Ours is a noble lot.

 

[Stevicus]

Does your use of the passive voice mean you personally don't agree with that view?
Anyway, I think cowardice is a fine motive for self preservation.
By your rationale, most people are cowards for not enlisting or being drafted.
Good for them, I say.

This is true. The same charge of "draft dodger" can be laid at any individual who declines to enlist in the military services. I wouldn't say they are "cowards" or "slackers," but there are those who might make such a charge.

As for me, I tried to enlist, but they didn't take me. So, at least I can say with a clear conscience that I made the attempt to serve my country, even if my country didn't want me. Plus, at the time, military recruitment was at an all-time high, so they really didn't need that many recruits or any kind of draft.

But there are other reasons to avoid the draft.....
- Belief that the war is wrong.
- Family commitments.
- Having better things to do with one's time.
- Belief that the draft is wrong, particularly since it is discriminatory & capricious
- Disdain for the regimentation, low pay, waste, abuse & other nasties soldiers endure.
It only affected healthy males of a certain age who had low lottery numbers.

So their dodging is OK because it suited them personally?
How convenient.

I would say that it depends on the circumstances. If someone has a certain set of principles or beliefs that war is wrong, then that's valid. There's the old idea that "I would never send a man out to do a job that I wouldn't be willing to take on myself." If I support the idea of my country going to war, then at least in theory, I should be willing to go and fight if needed.

A whole lotta guys suddenly & conveniently found God & pacifism when Uncle Sam wanted
them to defend everyone else for low pay & great disrespect when coming home from the war.

In the case of the Vietnam War, a lot of people were against the war anyway. But I recall when the first war against Iraq was brewing, there were a few service members who were trying to find excuses to get out. They volunteered for the peacetime military, yet when they realized they might have to go into a combat zone, they wanted out.

 

[Stevicus]

Bill & Dubya are old news.....I was just addressing the recent election.
Trump is still being attacked for it here.

Yeah, but it's pretty much a non-issue at this point. It wasn't even a real issue back then, since actual "draft dodging" was an intentional, illegal act. What they did was legal.

 

[Revoltingest]

....when the first war against Iraq was brewing, there were a few service members who were trying to find excuses to get out. They volunteered for the peacetime military, yet when they realized they might have to go into a combat zone, they wanted out.

That strikes me as reneging on a deal.
But still, I'd understand volunteering to defend the country, but not for 'nation building'.

Note:
I say I was more productive designing weapons than using them back in the 70s.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Greetings, fellow military service dodger!
Ours is a noble lot.

I was never in the draft so did not dodge anything....Draft dodging was meant for those who avoided combat in Vietnam not for those like me but congrats on appearing foolish. Best believe if I knew now what I should have known then I would have been in SF as opposed to working in a hospital.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yeah, but it's pretty much a non-issue at this point. It wasn't even a real issue back then, since actual "draft dodging" was an intentional, illegal act. What they did was legal.

Many of us draft dodgers did it legally.
But I was prepared to go the illegal route.
Canuckistanians may thank their lucky stars (& Nixon) that I didn't become one of them!

 

[Revoltingest]

I was never in the draft so did not dodge anything....Draft dodging was meant for those who avoided combat in Vietnam not for those like me but congrats on appearing foolish. Best believe if I knew now what I should have known then I would have been in SF as opposed to working in a hospital.

I was exempted just in the nick of time when Nixon cancelled the draft.
So like you, I ended up not being subject to it.
But I'm a dodger in spirit & intent....& apparently foolishness.
And I consider you one of us.
It's a big tent kind of thing.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

I was exempted just in the nick of time when Nixon cancelled the draft.
So like you, I ended up not being subject to it.
But I'm a dodger in spirit & intent....& apparently foolishness.
And I consider you one of us.
It's a big tent kind of thing.

I never dodged anything though Call of Duty was never tasked to me.

 

[Revoltingest]

I never dodged anything though Call of Duty was never tasked to me.

I'd rather think that you're on my side....
You (as did I) decided not to serve in the military.
You wouldn't (as would I) serve in a war you thought wrong.

Am I on the right track?

Though I did feel the call to work in the military aerospace industry.
A friend who is a disabled marine vet (2 VN tours) regularly insults me by saying I served too.