The organization I know the most about, and I respect them tremendously, is the GI Rights Hotline. The local group is composed of lawyers, physicians and educators, and lots of Vietnam vets. (I wrote about them here.) They are fighting against war "one soldier at a time." But they support the soldiers they counsel. They try to help them get their rights to medical care, and to help for their families. How the warmakers in Washington treat soldiers and their families is deeply immoral, a complete scandal.

But the Hotline also counsels kids being recruited in high schools, telling them about the empty promises and outright lies by recruiters. Some will go anyway, to get away from home, to meet new people, which they will. Some will change their minds after what they see and experience, and want out, and the GI Rights Hotline will try to help them.

When I was junior high age I had a plan to go to the Naval Academy. I probably could have gotten the congressional appointment. But then I found out I wouldn't be accepted, because of my hearing. The clarity of chain of command, the discipline, the dedication to duty appealed to me. It still does to some extent and it may yet prove useful, though I doubt it will be in a purely military context.

Another echo of Vietnam, though a perverse one, is a call by some ( including progressives) for the return of the draft, as some kind of national service requirement which would offer "choice" other than military conscription. I hope some of the practical objections to such a naive notion are obvious after reading this account. But even in a better world, I would never compel anyone to do any kind of "service." Compulsion is just plain wrong. When we need selfless service, and we have mechanisms worthy of that dedication, we won't be in short supply. After all, people are ready to join Starfleet right now.