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Dear Editor,
I am writing to comment on an editorial piece submitted by Bill Maxwell that appeared in your October, 7th paper. In his commentary Mr. Maxwell suggests that military service should be mandatory, I couldn't disagree more. As a former US Army paratrooper and Persian Gulf War veteran I feel that I have earned the right to speak to this issue. I would like to point out that mandatory military service totally contradicts the idea of America. Mandatory military service forces free people into servitude for their government, not for their country. We say it's a free country all the time but do we really understand what that means. In a free country people are not forced into serving a government agenda they do not believe in.
Mr. Maxwell correctly shows that recruitment numbers are down. I believe that when the commander in chief is a liar, and self proclaimed loather of the military, recruitment numbers are sure to fall. For the last six years Mr. Clinton has sent American soldiers willy-nilly all over the world to fight and die in conflicts that in no way jeopardize our way of life. It's very frightening to me that the President shows so little regard for the lives of American service men and women, he consistently uses our military to deflect bad press every time his posterior is in a bind.
Further more, when freedom and liberty are challenged I know in my heart that Americans as always will step up to the plate. Has history taught us nothing, compare WW II with the Vietnam conflict, In the Second World War Americans gave completely of themselves by choice, not by government force, because they knew that freedom was in peril. During the Vietnam War Americans, largely the poor, minorities, and working class were forced into service, note the outcome of the two very different conflicts. A soldier being coerced by government will never be as effective a fighting force, as a soldier that makes a free and patriotic decision to give his life for freedom. The Persian Gulf War demonstrates this clearly, an all volunteer army that believed in its mission nearly obliterated an army of soldiers forced into service by fascist dictator.
If people who claim to love freedom are not willing to fight for it voluntarily they do not deserve freedom.
Dale Ritchey, Marietta
6th District Representative
Libertarian Party
* NOTE *
Please do not infer that I in any way wish to belittle or disparage the sacrifices and hardships endured by veterans of the war in Vietnam. I am only trying to show that forced military service is an infringement upon the rights of individual Americans.
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