Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!decwrl!ucbvax!rutgers!uwvax!uwmcsd1!calyx!usenet
From: usenet@calyx.UUCP (USENET admin)
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: Draft
Message-ID: <351@calyx.UUCP>
Date: 21 Dec 87 22:57:02 GMT
References: <1812@culdev1.UUCP> <1307@saturn.ucsc.edu> <1247@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <8143@ism780c.UUCP> <5581@oberon.USC.EDU> <8209@ism780c.UUCP> <5767@oberon.USC.EDU> <8357@ism780c.UUCP>
Reply-To: ariel@calyx.UUCP (Ariel Glenn)
Organization: Calyx Corporation, Milwaukee, WI
Lines: 55

In article <8357@ism780c.UUCP> mikep@ism780c.UUCP (Michael A. Petonic) writes:
>
>It's up to each person.  I don't think so.  I think a good army
>is one of the MOST IMPORTANT THINGS that a nation have.  If
>a person is intellectually disposed, let that person serve
>where the need is the greatest, in the laboratories or research
>environments of the goverment.  However, there's not a hell
>of a lot of people who could serve their country better in
>a lab than out in the field, trudging through mud and fighting
>for their country.  Actually, this is my opinion.  I don't
>proclaim it to be fact.  And I mean percentage-wise, not an
>absolute number.
>
>Anyways, two years service is not a long time.  And if you are
>outstanding enough to warrant a lab job, then you could continue
>your research/what-have-you while serving your stint.  
>
>It all could very well come down to:  "Is two years of your
>life (that isn't thrown away, just loaned to the government) worth
>your freedom???"  
>
Ah, but... 
what you really mean is, "Is two years of your life - spent in intimidation
of peoples of other countries (they call this "deterrence"), or training
for murder of other peoples, or possibly *engaging* in murder of other peoples,
or possibly being murdered yourself, worth your freedom?"

There are those who value freedom above any other possession - but they do
not necessarily believe that the end justifies the means.

It does not suffice to say "we'll put you in a non-combatant branch" -
unless it has nothing to do with 'national security'.  As long as security
is maintained by intimidation and violence, assisting the military means 
one agrees with and supports these tactics.

Oh, yes... your two year stint might not cost your life - it might cost
your sanity instead.  A friend of mine is traumatized permanently from 
his experiences in a war to maintain national security (uh huh, Viet Nam),
and he has to stay on medication or he becomes incoherent and sometimes
violent.  And even when he *takes* his meds, he has to really work to 
keep a connected train of thought.
Is it worth it??
>
>It's a question each of us has to decide on our own.

Yes, that's exactly the point.  We *each* have to decide; the government
should not decide for us!!

I see this isn't much of a flame.  *sigh*
I was so happy that the old group came back - well, in a new form, at least...
maybe next time I'll break out the flamethrowers.
---
ariel    (after Dec. 31) {rutgers,ihnp4}!uwvax!uwmcsd1!marque!ariel
         (actually, this address works right now, but I may not be on much.)
         ... insert standard disclaimer here ...