At the airport yesterday I was riding the train north to where my bike was parked (north springs station).
I ended up sitting with a father/daughter pair carrying large metal cases. When someone
else on the train asked he told them that they were "keyboards". My assumption was that
this was just so that they didn't alarm anyone.
The reality is that they were clearly carrying locked aluminum rifle cases. The case contents
became more obvious when you considered their attire. They were both wearing shirts that
said "JROTC Field Marksmanship Team".
After the other people around us got off at their stops we ended up talking for twenty minutes
about the competition that they had just been to in Oregon and how exciting it all was that she
had placed third with all the competition. This led to a conversation about military service,
what this girl was going to get into out of high school, her preferred job code, etc.
They departed at their stop and it left me thinking about a few things ...
What I ended up with is an idea that would enforce an 18 month to two year post high school
compulsory military service. At least in theory helping or even solving a large chunk of the following problems.
-Our country seems to be at an all time low as far as patriotism is concerned
-Most people in this country take their rights for granted every day
-Many kids have no idea what they want to do after high school
--Some end up shiftless burdens on society
-Many people that would like to go to college can't afford it.
-Crime in this country, especially petty property crime, is totally out of control largely perpetrated by a shiftless 18-30yo youth population
To be clear here about what I'm talking about though. I'm not suggesting that this be done
the way that many countries that suggest this sort of thing do it by sending the kids to basic training
then shipping them somewhere, strapping on their vest and helmet and shoving them in a fox hole. I'm suggesting something more
akin to domestic service in something like the national guard, coast guard etc.
Standard military service, overseas deployment, battle readiness etc would still be manned by a volunteer
military service and a new branch of service would be created for primarily non combat domestic/abroad compulsory service members.
This new branch would cover all manner of things, even things that we don't currently think of as military
such as maintaining state parks, public works projects, corp of engineers projects, securing borders, coastline.
As high school seniors everyone would be administered a suite of aptitude and intelligence testing
similar to an enhanced version of the current asvab/sat tests and a medical physical. This would determine their suitability for job/training classification. Available jobs would be broken into categories and offered as block options to those scoring in the appropriate aptitudes and skill levels where they are left with the final choice.
Shortly post-graduation ALL healthy students will complete a standard 6 week basic training.
Everyone that is physically able will learn about their service, citizenship, life skills, self defense,
firearms handing and marksmanship, survival, etc. A second training option be made available to those that are physically handicapped so that they can participate and serve as well.
After basic training and a short break, the way that it's handled with most military service now, they would begin a period of highly focused job specific training that matches your selected and assigned job. The time required for this training would be determined by the job requirements.
When training is complete people would be inserted into the system in designated areas where their specific skill is required in country or bases abroad.
While In service everyone would live in barracks similar to college dormitories, provided meals and have available additional job training, college courses, etc that can be consumed at no cost in off work hours
with some broad continued education, health/fitness maintenance and firearm proficiency, mandatory.
A small stipend will be paid to each service member aside from providing housing, meals, etc so that
money is available for entertainment outside of working ours but most of the money earned will be put
into an account for the citizen that can't be used until after service is complete. A separate account (not unlike the GI bill) will be established with matching funds beyond those earned directly that can only be consumed if the citizen decides to attend some type of university after the completion of service.
At the end of service everyone would be given the option of continuing service through voluntary enlistment
or moving into private life, college, employment, whatever.
Whatever they choose they take with them a sense of pride in themselves and their country, skills to get by in real life, a job/aptitude that they could use to make a living, the ability to protect themselves and their country as necessary and an understanding of what it takes to maintain the freedoms that we all have. Each service member would also keep their service firearms and encouraged to maintain proficiency with them as
an aid in protecting our country if required and reducing/preventing crime.
It's just an idea .... it certainly wouldn't make anything worse.
I ended up sitting with a father/daughter pair carrying large metal cases. When someone
else on the train asked he told them that they were "keyboards". My assumption was that
this was just so that they didn't alarm anyone.
The reality is that they were clearly carrying locked aluminum rifle cases. The case contents
became more obvious when you considered their attire. They were both wearing shirts that
said "JROTC Field Marksmanship Team".
After the other people around us got off at their stops we ended up talking for twenty minutes
about the competition that they had just been to in Oregon and how exciting it all was that she
had placed third with all the competition. This led to a conversation about military service,
what this girl was going to get into out of high school, her preferred job code, etc.
They departed at their stop and it left me thinking about a few things ...
What I ended up with is an idea that would enforce an 18 month to two year post high school
compulsory military service. At least in theory helping or even solving a large chunk of the following problems.
-Our country seems to be at an all time low as far as patriotism is concerned
-Most people in this country take their rights for granted every day
-Many kids have no idea what they want to do after high school
--Some end up shiftless burdens on society
-Many people that would like to go to college can't afford it.
-Crime in this country, especially petty property crime, is totally out of control largely perpetrated by a shiftless 18-30yo youth population
To be clear here about what I'm talking about though. I'm not suggesting that this be done
the way that many countries that suggest this sort of thing do it by sending the kids to basic training
then shipping them somewhere, strapping on their vest and helmet and shoving them in a fox hole. I'm suggesting something more
akin to domestic service in something like the national guard, coast guard etc.
Standard military service, overseas deployment, battle readiness etc would still be manned by a volunteer
military service and a new branch of service would be created for primarily non combat domestic/abroad compulsory service members.
This new branch would cover all manner of things, even things that we don't currently think of as military
such as maintaining state parks, public works projects, corp of engineers projects, securing borders, coastline.
As high school seniors everyone would be administered a suite of aptitude and intelligence testing
similar to an enhanced version of the current asvab/sat tests and a medical physical. This would determine their suitability for job/training classification. Available jobs would be broken into categories and offered as block options to those scoring in the appropriate aptitudes and skill levels where they are left with the final choice.
Shortly post-graduation ALL healthy students will complete a standard 6 week basic training.
Everyone that is physically able will learn about their service, citizenship, life skills, self defense,
firearms handing and marksmanship, survival, etc. A second training option be made available to those that are physically handicapped so that they can participate and serve as well.
After basic training and a short break, the way that it's handled with most military service now, they would begin a period of highly focused job specific training that matches your selected and assigned job. The time required for this training would be determined by the job requirements.
When training is complete people would be inserted into the system in designated areas where their specific skill is required in country or bases abroad.
While In service everyone would live in barracks similar to college dormitories, provided meals and have available additional job training, college courses, etc that can be consumed at no cost in off work hours
with some broad continued education, health/fitness maintenance and firearm proficiency, mandatory.
A small stipend will be paid to each service member aside from providing housing, meals, etc so that
money is available for entertainment outside of working ours but most of the money earned will be put
into an account for the citizen that can't be used until after service is complete. A separate account (not unlike the GI bill) will be established with matching funds beyond those earned directly that can only be consumed if the citizen decides to attend some type of university after the completion of service.
At the end of service everyone would be given the option of continuing service through voluntary enlistment
or moving into private life, college, employment, whatever.
Whatever they choose they take with them a sense of pride in themselves and their country, skills to get by in real life, a job/aptitude that they could use to make a living, the ability to protect themselves and their country as necessary and an understanding of what it takes to maintain the freedoms that we all have. Each service member would also keep their service firearms and encouraged to maintain proficiency with them as
an aid in protecting our country if required and reducing/preventing crime.
It's just an idea .... it certainly wouldn't make anything worse.
