Longstreet was best man at Grant’s wedding before the war. He also served under grant after the war and became a republican. He led African-American militia in Georgia against White Southerners fighting reconstruction. quite a turnaround.
It's definitely true about the deciders and the fighters not being the same people, but sometimes incompetent former fighters become deciders and live out what they couldn't do as fighters that way. Pete Hegseth, for example...
I was draft eligible for Vietnam and had a high enough number to avoid the draft. Still I now see that we need a draft if only to make our armed forces much more all American than they are now. We also need to end any fantasy that air power gives us easy victories.
Thank you for another thought-provoking piece. The draft, of course, was done away with during the Nixon administration because of widespread opposition to the war in Vietnam.
I was an undergraduate between 1971 and 1975, a period coinciding with the long, bloody “Vietnamization” of the war.
I was eligible for the draft in the last year the draft remained effectively acyive. In those days, when there was a draft lottery, my number, based on the date of my birth, was so high thst I wasn’t drafted. I would have reported for duty, despite my opposition to the war.
But I have often thought of the institution of the all-volunteer army as a “rich man’s reform,” allowing those with other options to skip the possible dangers of military service, while incentivizing those with fewer opportunities, to join.
I’m not sure that the institution of a draft or of compulsory military service would change things. Israel has had compulsory military service since its inception, I believe. That has not prevented its older people from sending younger people to war.
Interesting but not sure if I agree that it would help prevent wars. From the ancient to more recent times many rulers have fought and sometimes died in wars. Alexander the Great certainly comes to mind. King Leonidas of Sparta . Julius Caesar. A number of English kings such as Henry the 5th. Napolean.
This has not been the case since the middle of the 19th century, but while not monarchs, Prince Andrew served in the Falklands and Prince Harry in Afghanistan.
“It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it”. Robert E Lee. Experience of war doesn’t reliably make pacifists. See also George S Patton. And Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun and others.
I thought I recognized your name! I love your book The Last Campaign. I read it after finishing US Grant’s memoirs. Grant and Sherman are as close as I get to idolizing men from the past.
Longstreet was best man at Grant’s wedding before the war. He also served under grant after the war and became a republican. He led African-American militia in Georgia against White Southerners fighting reconstruction. quite a turnaround.
Civilian control of the military is a good thing actually...
I was reading that Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud met in person once, in Berlin in 1927. And Einstein asked Freud, “why war”?
It's definitely true about the deciders and the fighters not being the same people, but sometimes incompetent former fighters become deciders and live out what they couldn't do as fighters that way. Pete Hegseth, for example...
It would sure be nice to have more veterans hold high office.
I was draft eligible for Vietnam and had a high enough number to avoid the draft. Still I now see that we need a draft if only to make our armed forces much more all American than they are now. We also need to end any fantasy that air power gives us easy victories.
I think Hobbes had an answer for Longstreet in “Levithian”
Thank you for another thought-provoking piece. The draft, of course, was done away with during the Nixon administration because of widespread opposition to the war in Vietnam.
I was an undergraduate between 1971 and 1975, a period coinciding with the long, bloody “Vietnamization” of the war.
I was eligible for the draft in the last year the draft remained effectively acyive. In those days, when there was a draft lottery, my number, based on the date of my birth, was so high thst I wasn’t drafted. I would have reported for duty, despite my opposition to the war.
But I have often thought of the institution of the all-volunteer army as a “rich man’s reform,” allowing those with other options to skip the possible dangers of military service, while incentivizing those with fewer opportunities, to join.
I’m not sure that the institution of a draft or of compulsory military service would change things. Israel has had compulsory military service since its inception, I believe. That has not prevented its older people from sending younger people to war.
I won't address ancient times. Since the 1860s wars are generally fought over money, who gets to keep it, and what they get
to use it for.
Why was Korea an optional war? North Korea attacked South Korea and American occupation forces and very nearly pushed them into the sea?
U.S. forces left South Korea before the North Korean invasion.
Simply, bring it back and then see if we can continue to fight undeclared wars.
Interesting but not sure if I agree that it would help prevent wars. From the ancient to more recent times many rulers have fought and sometimes died in wars. Alexander the Great certainly comes to mind. King Leonidas of Sparta . Julius Caesar. A number of English kings such as Henry the 5th. Napolean.
This has not been the case since the middle of the 19th century, but while not monarchs, Prince Andrew served in the Falklands and Prince Harry in Afghanistan.
“It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it”. Robert E Lee. Experience of war doesn’t reliably make pacifists. See also George S Patton. And Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun and others.
This anecdote is less about the camaraderie of brothers born to battle than it is about the shared boredom of garrison life.
I thought I recognized your name! I love your book The Last Campaign. I read it after finishing US Grant’s memoirs. Grant and Sherman are as close as I get to idolizing men from the past.
JD Vance