John Kerry on YouTube

[boobcheese]

I saw a report the other day that said 2/3rds of America's teens are inelligible for military service because they're too fat.

You don't have to be within BF standards to go to boot camp, but you do have to be w/in standards to complete it. Reinstituting the draft, if it did nothing else, would help reduce health care costs by teaching the fat fvcks that hang out at the mall how to exercise.

 

[Lawman]

You don't have to be within BF standards to go to boot camp, but you do have to be w/in standards to complete it. Reinstituting the draft, if it did nothing else, would help reduce health care costs by teaching the fat fvcks that hang out at the mall how to exercise.

Theres better ways to handle that problem in America. Unfortunately it would mean an end to the PC crap, be nice to everybody, attitude that has taken over this country. Nobody is allowed to be yelled at. Suddenly its unacceptable for me to tell somebody that they are fat, maybe not even as an insult. I cant even be like "dude your fat and you need to do something about it before it kills you" cause I might hurt somebodys feelings.


And really look at the majority of the people you knew in college. Now put that same person in a situation like OCS, most of the people I know wouldnt have been there a minute after the CO gave you the option after 3 days of quasi-training to go home. The ones that may have stayed wouldnt have made it through before they DOR'd out. The only people I know that would make it through OCS are other Candidates that have/will. Even at Basic where you dont have the option to DOR you cant just expect everybody to make it. There would be plenty of people that would just collapse under the pressure, sit down on the ground, and cry/suck their thumb. I dont want those people in the Military, because what the hell chance would they have in a non-garrison real deal situation if they couldnt take it at Basic.

 

[boobcheese]

I'm not suggesting we reinstate the draft simply to combat obesity in America (though it would be an added benefit). I do think it a draft would help eleviate the stress on our active duty and reserve forces and it would give us more options in dealing with threats that are developing around the world. As it stands now, our enemies are emboldened by the fact that our limited resources are bogged down in Iraq and Afganistan.

 

[Stubby]

....I do think it a draft would help eleviate the stress on our active duty and reserve forces and it would give us more options in dealing with threats that are developing around the world...

Two points:

Instituting a draft would not alleviate the stress on the military.... it would just morph that stress to a different kind of stress. Do you really want to be in a foxhole with someone who absolutely doesn't want to be there, and probably isn't qualified to be there? Who's got your back? That's stress.

Secondly, the "options" you are referring to are military options alone. As you can see, neither America nor the international community have the stomach or the attention span for military options to run their course.

In theory I'm all for the Starship Troopers version of 'citizens vs. civilians'... where only those who serve the greater good of their own society earn the privileges associated with citizenship. Alas however, this Utopia will never come to pass, and wouldn't work in the real world anyway.

 

[PU Grad]

As for the Greenies in Colorado, most of them were exiled to Boulder. Seriously, it's like a smaller version of Berkley.

I lived in Boulder for a while. I also found many Greenies took to the hills. Some of those small mountain towns are worse than Boulder.

 

[TurnandBurn55]

I think Kerry is alluding to what happened in Vietnam. While some may say there are parallels of this war to Vietnam, draft/enlisting is NOT one of them, that's for sure.

And that's another salient point. So many of the leftist elitists cut their teeth in the Vietnam protest movement that they're constantly using clumsy attempts to re-create their glory days of youth.

This resembles another undercurrent of Vietnam in which the leftists protested the idea that college kids got draft deferments, thus the "brunt" of military service was on the poor, the uneducated, and the minorities.

Regardless of whether you're an officer or enlisted, you're not going far in this man's military without studying hard at your craft.

Speaking of intellectual laziness:

"We are more guilty than any other body of violations of those Geneva Conventions"

"...I used 50-caliber machine guns... All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions."

I mean, hell, even the most cursory glance at the Geneva Conventions shows that there's absolutely no prohibition of the use of .50 machine guns. Kerry criticizes Bush for believing something most of our allied intelligence agencies believed as well. Kerry sprouts of urban legend as fact, when 30 seconds of research would have confirmed that was the case.

 

[Fly Navy]

"...I used 50-caliber machine guns... All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions."

I mean, hell, even the most cursory glance at the Geneva Conventions shows that there's absolutely no prohibition of the use of .50 machine guns. Kerry criticizes Bush for believing something most of our allied intelligence agencies believed as well. Kerry sprouts of urban legend as fact, when 30 seconds of research would have confirmed that was the case.

I love this one. I actually believed it at one point. Why? Because everyone "knows it is true". If it was true, then how could we strafe troops with 20mm, or use the 25mm gun on the Bradleys to shoot people? Ignorance and agenda are dangerous bedfellows.

 

[TurnandBurn55]

Great article in the Economist about this:

"Mr Kerry is the gift that keeps on giving-- to the Republicans..."

"Apparently he did not mean that if you fail to study you will end up in the army; rather, if you fail to study you will end up leading an ill-thought out war in Iraq. That must have come as useful advice to any members of his audience who were contemplating a career as commander-in-chief."

 

[Coota0]

And that's another salient point. So many of the leftist elitists cut their teeth in the Vietnam protest movement that they're constantly using clumsy attempts to re-create their glory days of youth.

This resembles another undercurrent of Vietnam in which the leftists protested the idea that college kids got draft deferments, thus the "brunt" of military service was on the poor, the uneducated, and the minorities.

Weren't the majority of those left wingers that were protesting the war doing so at least partially while on deferments for college?

I think something that gets left out in the majority of the poor kids going to Vietnam discussions is that more people volunteered during the Vietnam war than were drafted.

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/electionissues/a/draft_3.htm?terms=%22Vietnam%22+AND%20%22Draft%22

 

[eddie]

Weren't the majority of those left wingers that were protesting the war doing so at least partially while on deferments for college?

I think something that gets left out in the majority of the poor kids going to Vietnam discussions is that more people volunteered during the Vietnam war than were drafted.

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/electionissues/a/draft_3.htm?terms=%22Vietnam%22+AND%20%22Draft%22

Uh, I believe this (from the article you provide) is the kind of statistic that gets people riled up:

Except for isolated statistics (88 percent of infantry riflemen), data are not easily found which support or refute the theory that draftees were proportionally more likely to be deployed to Vietnam.

 

[raptor10]

WHAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU.
From Neal Boortz

Again.. do I think that the Republicans have earned our continued
permission to control both the House and the Senate in
Washington? Not only no, but hell no. The best that can be said
of the Republicans now is that they're not Democrats, though they
seem to be trying to erase any differences as fast as they can.
Republicans in control for two more years --- spending and
increasing the size of government --- is an acceptable outcome
next week only because the alternative is so much worse.

This week I'm detailing some of the plans that the Democrats have
for you and your bank accounts if and when they get the control
that they think is their birthright.

Today I want to share with you another delicious little morsel the
Democrats have waiting for you if they ever gain the political
power they so ardently desire. It's called "imputed income." If
you are a homeowner, pay attention. This concerns your wallet
and your bank account.

Give me the big-spenders who support our troops over the big-spenders who slander them any day.
I'm voting Republican.

 

[Zilch]

Funny, I studied in college and got a degree so I could serve my country as a Marine NFO, which quite possibly means heading to Iraq at some point...

 

[Flash]

WHAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU.
From Neal Boortz

"Let me start this off with a few points that I don't think you will dispute. Democrats are the party of big government. Democrats are the party of the social welfare state. Democrats want to make more and more Americans dependent on government because they know that the higher the degree of dependency the weaker the people and the stronger the government. It goes without saying that the stronger and more powerful government becomes, the stronger and more powerful the politicians who control that government become. This isn't rocket surgery here."

Are you sure he is talking about Democrats........?

 

[Fly Navy]

Sounds like both parties to me. What happend to small government Republicans? Oh, they're Libertarians now.

 

[Zilch]

Sounds like both parties to me. What happend to small government Republicans? Oh, they're Libertarians now.

Where's the rep points button?