After the Vietnam Era, the United States opted for an all volunteer army. What an innocent idea this seemed. The draft was a big stress to the country, perhaps it would be better to have an army of folks who wanted to be there.

History is unforgiving if we observe the past the way that it actually occurred. During the Vietnam days it was much easier for citizens to figure out that the war wasn’t being fought for the reasons given and young people were dying for reasons unrelated to freedom and national security. The draft was a burden on everyone, thus Vietnam was a burden to everyone also.  Soldiers don’t get to pick their wars and end up fighting for the goals and aspirations of the country’s most powerful citizens and not for national security.

The Irish have very touching ways of making this point. The Green Fields of France is an Irish tune and highly appropriate for our times. Wars and economic disasters have a way of occurring together.  The economic disaster is a given. I hope we can skip the war.

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