[recallone]

I'm a veteran.
I used to be of the mind that every young man (or woman) should join the service after finishing high school. Not any more. I personally joined when I was 17 years old. I had to grow up fast and handle the tasks that were required of me. I learned to follow orders promptly and efficiently. I learned what discipline really means. I also learned how to kill people.

Everyone who joins the service becomes acquainted with an M16, regardless of what their MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) is going to be. They make soldiers in basic training. They create an environment that is difficult, require you to stand at attention while a drill sergeant screams in your face, do push-ups till you drop and keep you in a sleep-deprived state.
The result? A stronger individual who now knows that more is always achievable. The 'stronger' I'm referring to has to do with the mind and spirit, not necessarily physical ability, although that is achieved as well.

If a force was designed to tend to the community in times of need, a large part of that training regimen would almost certainly resemble that of boot camp. The biggest thing, I think - is following orders. A lot of people simply cannot wrap their heads around the idea of following orders without questioning why. If lengthy explanations have to be issued every time orders are issued, the efficiency of the operation would be greatly compromised, whatever the mission. For these reasons, I really can't see how or even why they'd employ some kind of alternate training bereft of firearms. Especially when defense is right there in the title.

Civil Defense? When has this country ever had an occasion to defend itself against a legitimate threat? I'm not talking colonial days, here people. If you think about it, the only threat our communities have ever needed protection against were those forces that were allegedly sent in to help the community on the heels of a natural disaster. And that help came in the form of forced entry into people's homes to disarm them...with force. All the rest were just hyped up threats to keep us vibrating fear...so they could control us better.

I agree that everyone should get accustomed to hard work. Literally getting their hands dirty. Finishing a day of honest hard work and being exhausted is good for you. Whoever you are. It's good for your mind because it shows you how far you can go when you maybe thought you couldn't go any further. And it's good for your body for obvious reasons. Endorsing a plan like this is just foolish in my humble opinion. Just as they've slipped revisions to our constitutional rights by us, they're trying to slip yet another ill-intentioned plan by us. I replied in another thread to the effect of so many in-the-know people allowing themselves to slip back into hypnotic submission during the recent election proceedings - the same thing is happening here.

Sugar-coated anything seems to be good enough for most Americans.
Not this American. Not this human. Not this being of light and love that knows what a government ought to do for its' people.
Serve them. Not the other way around.

I wish you all peace.
recallone