
Zepp's Last Stand (1979) - lermontov
http://reprints.longform.org/zepps-last-stand
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DiabloD3
Stuff like this makes me ashamed of my country.

You cannot send people to die against their will in a war that makes no sense
whatsoever. WWI is considered the worst war in history, both sides deploying
weapons that were later just flat out banned as immoral, and drove insane a
man that later became the Chancellor of Germany... and we know how that turned
out.

We've seen the photos of soldiers suffering from being shell shocked in the
trenches. All of them came home broken, just in different ways. We had no
right to ever ask that of them.

And what is the use of a soldier that objects? In the end, he will not follow
orders, he will hesitate, and he will die.

War has no place in modern society, and we knew that 102 years ago. We knew it
77 years ago. We knew it 66 years ago. We knew it 60 years ago. We knew it 26
years ago. We knew it 15 years ago. We knew it 13 years ago. And since we
invented a new enemy, Isis, we will know it again in the next few years.

We keep wasting lives, we keep wasting money, and we keep the military
industrial complex alive when it should be put down like a rabid dog. The
enemy of today is not a foreign country ready to attack us: the enemy of today
is civil unrest, the enemy of today is the cost of education, and the cost of
living, and the cost of having such a broken inefficient system throw everyone
under the fucking bus.

And you know what most people are doing right now? Arguing which turd is
shiniest so we can catapult them into the White House instead of a prison
cell?

Those soldiers died to protect what? Because I sure as hell don't fucking know
anymore.

~~~
icantdrive55
I'm tired of even debating war. I just want a draft. A draft for all. You
can't get out of it for because your in school, rich, or female. The only out
would be a disability. Those disability doctors would be highly scrutinized
for any sign of corruption by the FBI.

If Chelsea Clinton was required to serve, or Trump's spoiled brats had to walk
into a hot zone; I don't think we would see another war for a long time.

(I once had a nephew want to join the Army. I took him to Tiburon, CA for a
day of just people watching. It was a sunny day. Even the locals were out. On
the way in I was pulled over because I drive an old car, and had long hair at
the time. My inner voice said great! We sat in the park, but I wanted him to
get a first had seat for the show. Basically a show of people, and their spawn
with way too much money. On the way home, I asked him, "You would die for
these people?" Well my ploy didn't do much, but he did join the Navy instead
of the Army.)

~~~
cafard
A draft worked well enough in WW II, when the Army fielded one hundred or so
divisions. DOD doesn't want larger ground forces than we have now. What do we
do?

The disability doctors of the Vietnam days could be very flexible. Would the
FBI ask that charges be brought against a doctor who simply objected to the
draft and disqualified anyone who was nearly on the borderline?

------
willcate
Was disappointed to find that this is not about Led Zeppelin

~~~
WalterBright
Found what you're looking for:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWOuzYvksRw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWOuzYvksRw)

~~~
bogomipz
Indeed! I thought for sure it was going to be about Knebworth!

I went for Kashmir though to nurse my disappointment:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTOmK-4y9EE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTOmK-4y9EE)

Top of their game there.

