LETTERS: VOLUNTARY MILITARY IS TRUE REPUBLICANISM

To the editor:

All men and women who have served honorably in our military in the past, those who are serving now and those who will serve in the future have my full respect.

Richard Nixon gave us the voluntary military. I have read many articles on some of the results of the change from draft to voluntary, but only one covered the real reason for the change.

It's true Republicanism disguised as an act of freedom. You can't beat that freedom stuff, can you? Voluntary army: nobody has to go if he doesn't want to, does he? Wrong. That's the way the Republicans want it to sound. This is much like the Republicans' 1996 Freedom to Farm Act, which has brought much of American agriculture to its knees.

Back to the voluntary army. Its single purpose was to make the poor boys fight the hardships of wars while the elite lived the great American dream in safety behind the bodies of the less fortunate.

I call it the bribery service. Recruiters have difficulty keeping the number up, so when they need new recruits, they take a suitcase full of money and go down Tobacco Road offering thousands of dollars to get people to enlist. I have read where they pay up to $20,000 for some positions for six years. The Republicans call this an enlistment bonus, and they pay thousands to get people to re-enlist. They don't take a suitcase of money up Mansion Avenue, because they wouldn't get any recruits there. Those people already have a suitcase full of money and are busy filling up a trunk.

Fact: While president, Democrat Lyndon Johnson's two sons-in-law went to Vietnam. But while president, Republican Richard Nixon's two sons-in-law did not go to Vietnam. Need I say more? The Republicans don't like minimum-wagers either.

Any time the Republicans mention freedom for us, look under it, around it, over it and behind it.

W.T. WOODS

Bertrand