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I was talking to my dad last weekend, and as always it eventually turned to politics. He made a point to me that after hearing seemed obvious, but it had never occurred to me before.
We were discussing the military and the troops' growing dissatisfaction with the Iraq debacle. My dad brought up the draft issue, then went on to make the point that after this mess is over the military will be screwed because very few people will make the mistake of joining the NG again - and since we depend on the NG as the bulk of our military troops the Republicans will be in for a RUDE awakening.
After listening to him, I think he's right. These guys in the NG are trying to get ahead, and make a little extra money for their families. They figure "what the heck?" - and sign up for the NG. It's no big deal - a few weekends in exchange for an extra couple of hundred dollars a month. Now, this wargasmic administration is showing these guys in living color that a few weekends here and there can translate into years away from their families, the loss of their jobs, and the republicans wonderful "support" of the troops when they are crapped on and have benefits cut. This is NOT what they were expecting, and after the "wargasm" wore off cold, hard reality has started to set in.
When these guys' time is up, I don't think it is likely they'll be signing up again. Also, anyone thinking about signing up that has paid any sort of attention at all to what's going on is likely to have second thoughts.
If this continues, and republicans continue to steal elections I think it is quite possible they may seal their fate with the military. And if THAT happens - we are looking at "hello DRAFT" in order to keep the war machine rolling, and we all know how that would go over.
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