Military enlistment at an all time low

How and why is the number of our military force membership so unacceptably low? Is it the “unpopular war”? Is the entire world taking a new turn in developing some form of global pacifism? Or is it something much simpler than all the above possibilities?

Yesterday, June 3rd, there was a documentary about some 400 young Americans who now live in Toronto in order to evade being in the military – we’ll come to that topic later, after we examine some other aspects closely related to this exodus.

What is it that changed in the country? After all we no longer have a compulsory draft so that the kids are sent to the front against their will to be in the service, like we did at the time of Viet Nam when notables like Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) publicly refused to serve, others moved to Canada, etc. These two events are very similar while everything else is very dissimilar. Yet there must be valid reasons for such a clear direction within the mass psychology of the young men who are the practitioners of the behavior at hand.

For the most part, no nation (or more accurately no citizens of any nation) is/are eager to go into a combat situation where life is endangered. That should be reasonably understandable to nations that waged wars as well as those who were a lot more anti-war oriented (numerous examples, way more and beyond Jane Fonda’s activities in the 1960s).

Let’s introduce yet another topic that will contribute to a better understanding of the current views and the way they are manifested. Equally, yesterday, June 3rd, we have a Washington Post article titled [“Canada Holds 17 In Alleged Bomb Plot” -
Strikes on Ontario Sites Said Imminent] URL at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/03/AR2006060300171.html

With all the above, let’s keep in mind, that no attacks on the United States soil have taken place after the tragic 9/11. So we must give some credit to the efforts made by our president, the FBI, the newly formed Homeland Security, etc. In spite of all the griping about “our library cards being made available to the Big Brother” and other Orwellian overtures, we do have a safe way to fly, travel, go to and from our banks and post offices – unlike some other countries.

With a huge dose of sarcasm we can state and restate “Freedom has a price”, until we get enough laugh on Jay Leno’s show or some other talk-show host. Yes it was always popular to criticize a sitting government no matter how right or wrong they were. Let’s see what we find in our recent past:

1. World War One: Austro-Hungarian Empire attacks Serbia in the summer of 1914; by year’s end we have Germany join the Austro-Hungarians, while the other side gets the Russian, French and British support. During this war Italy actually changed sides during the very war itself – so much for knowing your allies and your enemies. Goes to show us that we can’t always ascertain with absolute accuracy what side is where, but when it comes to our own well-being and safety at our own home we should have no such dilemmas.

2. World War Two: FDR finds himself in a hot seat not wanting to commit to either side during 1941, while Poland was already partitioned by the Nazis and the Communist Soviets, Belgium and France were being overrun, London was being attacked from the air. In the aftermath of WW2, we heard a lot of criticism about FDR’s neutrality. So much for “Damn it if you do – damn it if you don’t”.

3. Fast forward to the Viet Nam war. In my own private opinion the United States lost that war at home and lost it in a political arena more so than on the ground in South East Asia. This was a true solid victory for the liberal movement along with many versions of Jane Fonda, Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted, immigrating to Canada, mass protests and many other expressions of myopic politics. Our foreign policy was so complex and burdened with pressures from all sides that nobody paid any attention to the situation at home, and things simply got out of hand. No there is nothing wrong with Pacifism, but there are times when Pacifism plays straight into the hands of the enemy – not including the possibility that “unfriendly forces” (or enemies) may have planted, or induced such actions which at times work exactly contrary to our goals as a nation.

4. Gulf Wars One and Two – not very popular at home, in addition to which the presence of oil in the Persian Gulf only clouds the picture. We conveniently choose to subscribe to some sort of moral amnesia, forgetting that our homeland was under attack. If there ever comes to a serious in-depth investigation I will not be surprised that there has been funding to provide imagery from the Middle East where our goals are belittled, discredited and our involvement presented in a most unfavorable light.

Of course that nobody likes wars, blood, death, etc. Our military presence in the Middle East has a very complex mission to accomplish. It would be a mistake to think, we were there to topple Sadam and come back home. Al Quaida has remained a serious threat and will remain a serious threat because of the structure it assumed. With or without Usama bin Laden, the terrorism will be exported from those backward countries. Yes, we do have the luxury of those two large oceans that keep us physically protected from the hostility being harvested in the Middle East.

Since we failed to learn much from the prior historical lessons, perhaps, we’ll come to our senses a little faster if we realize fully what degree of danger is so close at hand. I am not advocating all out war against every country in the Middle East, but we are not in a position of absolute safety where we can afford to ignore anti-American sentiment to the extent of causing harm to Americans on American soil. Some more serious measures need to be taken and our military involvement has a very difficult long term policy of countering the movements where terrorism germinates into open Anti-Americanism.

For my money, after watching the interviews with the few Americans in Toronto who joined this exodus under the flag of Pacifism (or conscientious objector), I got to realize two key elements:

a) Some of the people were just dreadfully stupid – I know this is not a nice thing to say, but it is not illegal to be stupid, ill-informed, uneducated or just plain dumb.
b) Some others mouthed half-hearted criticisms against women and children being killed, Abu Ghraib scandal, and similar.

It can not be a mere coincidence that the rise of this anti-American behavior is only based on the Pacifism, anti-war sentiment or “conscientious objector’s views”. Simply, too much of a coincidence to consider this as the only solution. There must be some other cooks for this soup that we found ourselves in.

Fortunately, the solution is both clear and simple. Education. I am firmly convinced that half of those escapees would have a change of heart if they knew the details and a probable long term impact that could bring an imminent danger to our values. On the other hand if American values are of no consequence – then I am totally wrong. Trouble is we get to see our values only after they become endangered (like the WTC bombing). Did we not see the bombing of the London public transit system, the Attocha train station in Madrid, the numerous journalists and other hostages held by the opponent’s forces, the inhuman treatment of their own people within some of the countries where we are trying to impose some semblance of democracy in order to allow for development of secular (civilized and peace-loving) governments.