Quote Originally Posted by Tacitus View Post
I am just curious how anyone expects more people in our society and government to have a better understanding of the military if we don't have some kind of universal military service requirement. In plain English, a draft.

I regularly read and hear military folks lamenting how detached the nation is from the Iraq war, how none of the Congress or Executive branch have any real comprehension of the military. But the military seems to be resolutely against doing away with a relatively small, volunteer military force. This seems to be a contradiction. You just can't have it both ways, it seems to me.

I'm not arguing for the draft in this post, I'm just saying that I think this kind of separation from the larger society and population carries along with it such things as a Congress having to rely on a lobbyist or staffer to generate any opinion on military matters.
I'm not sure that these guys actually need to have served in order to be a littel closer to the issues on which they are either legislating or advising the legislators. I'm not calling for verstehen a la Dilthey or Weber here. I just want a better state of erkenntnis. (I'm sure MarcT or Rex will correct me if I have gotten the distinction wrong. ) I suspect they can gain that insight without going the basic, AIT, etc. route. More to the point is one's willingness to be open-minded and well-informed, I suspect.