French troops to leave Afghanistan

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This time around the mainstream of America is almost completely cut off from what are troops are actually doing in Afghanistan.

Really ?

Pretty much. Military families, at least the ones I know, are a tight knit community in and of themselves. They're a subculture. I'd wager the average American doesn't know someone in uniform. We get some people joining the military out of a sense of patriotism or desire, but a lot simply don't have other options. The military provides them with training and will pay for college once your service time is up. This is my perspective, I don't have figures to back it up.

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I hate to say it, but maybe we should reconsider the Draft... At least then our military forces would be a better representation of the American population, and maybe, just maybe we'd think before deploying. We're too trigger happy about using military force.

Uh, both dick Cheney and don Rumsfeld dodged the draft with "I am rich and full of shit" exemptions. Dubya served in the air national guard, went AWOL and was never prosecuted.

Well how do other countries ensure military service (I'm thinking countries with mandatory military service, like the Swiss or Israel-perhaps Israel is a bad example at the present time)? If the Draft came back, the loopholes for the wealthy would have to be closed. I can't imagine Congress being too excited to send in our troops if a few of their kids would be put in harms' way.
Think of it this way: If there was a mandatory draft, without exemption, would Congress have ever decided to invade Iraq based on the evidence we had at the time? I don't think so.