Pat Tillman Proves That a Draft is Unnecessary
Commentary by Steve Yuhas
April 29, 2004

U.S. Representative Charlie Rangel has been calling on the government to reinstate the military draft because he believes that poor and minority men and women are more apt to join the military than the children of privileged white families.  Fine and good, but Rangel is often on the losing side of arguments and it is easy to dismiss his race bating rhetoric out of hand as the words of someone beholden to a district of exactly the people he describes.  When Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska talks about reinstating the draft, the talk turns from words of a fringe lonely Congressman to something more mainstream.

It has been a generation since the United States conscripted men to serve in our military.  Some would say that the all-volunteer nature of our current military make-up has made the U.S. military the most powerful and professional in the world.  It is, after all, easier to train men for the rigors of war when they want to be there than it is to train men who have contempt for the organization.  Others argue that the military is little more than a dumping ground for people who have no other option in life other than going to the military to earn money for college or to get out of the ghetto.

How insulting.

The death today of former NFL up and comer Pat Tillman while serving with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan is just one example of many of why the United States need not conscript men to fight in our military.  Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals after the September 11^th terrorist attacks just weeks after marrying his new wife and with his brother, joined the army.  So strong was his desire to fight for his country that with the military’s age restriction creeping up on the 25 year old he opted to leave his career and family and sacrifice for the rest of us.

Pat Tillman is not alone in that sacrifice.

Men and women all around the country struggle with the sacrifice that is military service.  Most are anonymous, but most of them leave behind a potential new career, family and friends.  They are called to serve for the same reasons that prompted Tillman and although their financial situations may differ it is the fortune in their hearts that pull so many toward fighting for our country instead of earning for themselves and their families.  Tillman represents the sacrifice by every man and woman who serve in uniform today, but what is different is that so many are noticing his sacrifice.

Every flag draped coffin that returns from overseas contains an American who volunteered his or her life to protect America.  Tillman’s death, although playing different on the media today, will return just like all the other coffins.  His flag draped coffin will be proudly returned next to the coffin of an anonymous man or woman that Charlie Rangel represents.  His coffin will be honored by soldiers from Hagel’s home state of Nebraska and will be saluted by men and women at his funeral from all walks of life, all kinds of backgrounds and all races and creeds.  The death of Tillman will be mourned by his brothers in arms – a mourning that people like Rangel and Hagel simply cannot understand.

The need for the draft is unnecessary because people like Tillman and people completely unlike him volunteer to serve our nation.  Nobody joins the military for all the same reasons, but one thing is certain – there are a whole lot of other options out there for 18 year olds and choosing the military when billions of dollars are spent each year for college level financial aid dispels the myth that people are only joining to earn college money.  There may have been a time when college money was hard to come by, but all one needs to do now is apply for it and you can attend any state university for pennies on the dollar.

The military is a sacrifice and calling that people from all walks of life answer and to draft men and women into it would be to relegate the sacrifice to little more than a social experiment to pay back rich white families for the bitterness felt by some politicians.  The difference between a military of conscripts and a military of volunteers would be the loss of pride that the men and women who serve today feel for their service.

The gratitude and thanks we all feel for our military is so heartfelt because we know these people volunteer to do what they do.  To conscript others into that service would lessen the sacrifice and there is something uniquely American about the anonymity of those coffins returning from overseas.  We don’t know who they are, but we are keenly aware of what they did.

Talk of reinstating the draft should be put to bed tonight when we remember those serving our nation in our prayers.  If a politician today feels guilt for the make-up of our military, they need to displace that guilt by not badmouthing the people who serve and to support them with all the money our nation's treasure has to provide them the pay and benefits they deserve.  Until they do that they should stop worrying about forcing people into the military.  The beauty of America is that we seem to be turning out a generation of men and women who understand what it is to be an American and the beauty of freedom.

It is too bad so many Baby Boomers don't get it.