Stay clear of that draft
I am a proponent of disambiguation, therefore, this is not a draft version. What you see is what you will get.j
Now, time to get that word, “draft”, back into line. The word can refer to a breeze from an open window. It can refer to the initial version of a text. And, if you are reading between the lines in a war story, it can refer to getting fresh fodder for the cannons. That’s an important use of the word, because it goes beyond the idea of conscription.
There has not been a military draft, in this country, in my lifetime. We use the idea of draft to get new hockey players into the job market. But, there are people alive that remember conscription in WW2. I went to school with people that had to deal with the conflict in VietNam. Not a war, I know, but people moved to Canada to avoid “the draft”. Or burned their Selective Sevice documents. Did that work? I’ll check.
Right now, young men are fleeing the draft, in Russia. Seems that the war effort is running low on “cannon fodder”, and the government wants to keep the military strong. Those with a choice are voting with their feet, and the borders are jammed. A case of a failed draft.
The odds of a military draft ever affecting me directly are nil. I’m too old and too slow (to outrun the proverbials cannons). But, I care. The world needs to abandom forced conscription. Just saying. Keep the hockey rinks full, if you must, but let’s allow the military to spiral into “a few good men”.
