Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "Will Women Be Excluded From Draft?" video.

  1. One of the arguments I saw, back during the second Iraq war, about why the protesting would go nowhere, was that nobody was being drafted and so there wasn't anywhere near the personal investment of knowing that your number could be called any day. If you didn't want to fight in that war, then you generally could just not sign up. The only people who fought in it from America that might not have wanted to be those that signed up before 9/11 and a bunch of national guardsmen. For most other people, it was a choice to not enlist to some degree. I do think that there should be a draft and that any assignments of the draftees should be done without knowledge of whom they are, specifically to prevent the rich and powerful from getting out of it that way.
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  2. For those of us that are males that are also gay or bisexual, in particular, it was a nasty trap as you weren't legally allowed to serve, but even after Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Harass, Don't Pursue was instituted, there were still huge numbers of people thrown out of the military and not receiving their honorable discharges. That was extremely expensive and damaging to all those involved for reasons you're fully aware of. A consequence of it is that most military personnel were fine with it as long as they weren't at risk, but it was precarious where being a threat to somebody else's promotion could be enough to get a complaint that would wind up destroying lives. Removing the draft helped that, but now that things are legally integrated, the draft should return with some teeth to ensure that the rich and powerful are not allowed to avoid their share of the commitment.
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