ybc, there are a whole bunch of problems with that article.
First, they try to pull a fast one and give the impression that only 3 members of Congress have children in the military by mentioning only enlisted personnel.
Second, the military is smaller than 10 or 20 years ago, while the population is larger, so the proportion of everyone in the military is shrinking. Third, one of the major ways to get a fresh college graduate into the service is to have an ROTC program, but all but 2 Ivy League schools have kicked that program off campus.
And the biggest problem – ‘leadership class’? Are you (ABC) f’n kidding me? Would anybody be impressed – would anybody care – if Donald Trump’s kid, or ‘Pinch’ Sulzberger’s, or Jenna Bush, Chelsea Clinton, or Paris Hilton signed up? Or some Hahvahd guy?
ybc, if the admin didn’t believe in the war, there’s no way they’d put themselves through this. They get villified the world over. If they had listened to the generals they ignored, they would’ve ignored the generals they listened to. No way to do what everybody wants. The draft isn’t a hot idea either – imagine the political fallout from that. Independent of which it wouldn’t improve the military. You say you’re familiar with business – ever been in a company and thought, “If only we were staffed with random people off the street, instead of people who applied, were accepted, and got trained”? That’s the difference between a conscript force and volunteers. Also, the war’s not costing that much relative to the federal government. The admin can be faulted for spending too much, and I do fault them for that, but the war’s not a big ticket item. Nor have the tax cuts hurt revenue, which is at record heights.
