Mooresville, North Carolina - June 1, 2012 - An early omen? I was dropped at the National Car Rental SUV row this morning in Charlotte to pick up a vehicle for the trip. There were a couple of KIAs, a VW, a Jeep Patriot. I chose the Jeep. This is America, bud. That’s right, and the Jeep wouldn’t start. So I was ready to go Korean when I noticed a Ford Escape had just arrived, wet from the wash, and I nabbed it–the Great Escape is now the official vehicle of Road Trip 2012
My first stop was up the road from Charlotte in Mooresville, where my old friends, John Gallina and Dale Beatty, the founders of Purple Heart Homes, which builds housing for wounded veterans, had set up a focus group of older veterans to talk about politics. We met in a coffee shop, museum and general hang out for veterans on Main Street. There were seven of them assembled and, after introductions, I asked, “So, are you Republicans or Democrats?” This turned out to be a trick question, and the trick was on me. Joseph Holden, a World War II veteran born in Britain who worked as a spy for the OSS, “How do you define a democrat? It’s one thing politically, another thing philosophically…and a conservative, what’s that?” Uh-oh. I agreed that these terms were imprecise, except when it came to voting–were they registered as Democrats or Republicans?
“We don’t talk about politics here,” said Ray Penninpede, a Vietnam veteran and former New York City cop.
“It would be too divisive,” said Larry Nosker. “We’d just go around chasing our tails.” Well, I tried again, how do you feel about the country right now?
snip I asked them what they thought would save the country and their answer was unanimous–and striking: bring back the draft. Everyone should serve 2 years. That would restore the American values that they knew and loved, Dan Okoniewski said. They especially thought every 18-year-old male should experience boot camp: “They need to start off life with someone kicking them in the butt. Hard,” Larry Nosker said. “We need a draft. We shouldn’t be sending this current generation back to Iraq and Afghanistan 3 and 4 times.”
There are plenty of arguments against restoring the draft. But there is one, profound and primal argument in favor and these veterans understood it viscerally: most every society in history has had coming-of-age ceremonies, when boys become men and girls women. We don’t anymore, at least not in any official way–and so increasing numbers of people don’t come of age, officially or unofficially. read more>>>
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