University of Virginia Library

Reform Of The Draft

So the man in the White House was setting
up a youth advisory board to selective service
headquarters in every state in the nation? Our
first reaction was similar to that when we
learned of the troop pullouts or cutbacks in
draft quotas: a token gesture which would
accomplish little or nothing, a ploy designed
to buy time for Mr. Nixon.

But the dotted lines were signed (an apple
pie oath of office and a waiver of pay) and
suddenly there we were in Richmond, one of
12 emissaries for the youth of Virginia, facing
several luminaries of the state board (all suited
in shades of military hue) and ready to talk
about the draft. Most of the morning was
spent listening to the state director, Captain
Kessler. An organizational and orientation
meeting which built a strong case for
supporting our original skepticism.

Captain Kessler spoke on a wide range of
things, more than a few of which left
members of the advisory board dumbfounded.
He stated that he felt that the generation gap
was a myth and that he had been able to talk
to people o all ages. Not everything in life
was going to be completely fair. Why hadn't
he been born Winthrop Rockefeller, he asked.
He realized 39,000 men or so had died in
Vietnam; but pointed out that more than that
number had died in three afternoons of
fighting during the civil war.

There were other such enlightening viewpoints,
but we put them aside for the
clincher: of all the Americans in his
knowledge of history, Captain Kessler considered
the greatest patriot to be Lewis B.
Hershey; not a single man exceeded him.

The afternoon session (where the advisory
board met alone) proved to be more
encouraging. The members expressed
optimism that some good would result from
their effort and agreed that a written report of
proposed changes in the draft should be made
public and presented at the yet-to-be-scheduled
national convention of youth
advisory boards.

The board members are now studying the
present draft system in detail and are to make
initial recommendations at a meeting on
December 17. The proposed reform coming
up before the House of Representatives next
week is highly selective and would leave many
inadequacies in the system. We would invite
opinions from any interested persons in the
Charlottesville area who have recommendations
on reform of the draft system. These
opinions will be channelled to the two
University students who sit on the state youth
advisory board. Hopefully, this board can
then engage in a free and open debate to
consider the many shortcomings of the draft
as it now exists.