Students and the draft
GORDON BIXLER · Chemical & Engineering News · 1966
To have to prepare for defense is odious; to have to defend yourself can be ghastly. Yet since we have not learned how to live together, to prepare for defense is still necessary. As the rights of individuals have become ever more respected, society has been able to require service in ever more equitable ways. Gone are the days of the roving press gangs that snatched the unwary from the murky streets of seacoast towns. Gone, too, are the days when you could buy deferment from the armed forces for a few dollars. For all our progress, however, we have yet to find the perfect system of selection. In times of total war, the Selective Service System works reasonably well. But when we face not-quite-war, as we now do in Southeast Asia, choosing those to induct and those to defer becomes much more hazardous. Those selected are often inclined to berate those deferred, ...