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The chill of a draft
The draft was one of many factors shaping what became
known as the protest generation. The blind compliance of
fathers infuriated sons The bitter reluctance of sons
shocked fathers. There were so many tricks to avoid induc
tion Wearing women s underwear to a pre-induction phy
sical usually worked — except when most of the other
inductees were also wearing women's underwear There
were sympathetic psychiatrists who, for a fee, would write a
letter to the draft board claiming you were anything from
catatonic to a chronic bed-wetter. Then there was Canada
corf femald
sidelong glances
I was sitting at a corner table in the Imagiste Cafe,
Montreal I was coming down hard The Stones were singing
"You’re 2,000 light years from home" on the jukebox Monty
was making time with a young French woman Every so often
he'd glance sidelong at me and hiss "maintain, man ." But it
was hitting me like a cold palm cracking across my face
The Imagiste Cafe was a dark and dirty storefront cafe
six steps down from Mount Royale Avenue The red walls
seemed to smoke in the dim Artsy students from McGill
University frequented the Imagiste — partly to impress their
dates with how easily they moved through the underground
Ex-patriot Americans weren't that welcome in the Imagiste.
nor Quebec The insults flung at me in French and English
were only a little less caustic than the crystal's burn in the
crook of my elbow But I was more fortunate than other
“black” Americans — I was with Monty — and Monty dealed
That was also my problem
I been reduced to a quaking skeleton doubled-up on a
chair in the corner of a stinking cafe — all of a sudden
Montreal had gone dry
"Wipe your mouth, Cort," Monty wearily said as the
woman grimaced looking at me He didn't have to turn
around to know what startled her
I pushed a sleeve across my cracked lips and smeared
the trickle of blood over my cheek I convulsed and chewed
on the bloody pulp that was my tongue
"You're so very lonely — you’re 2,000 light years from
home."
It'd been four maybe five months since I'd fled to
Montreal. In that time I'd discovered what sorts of bullshit
surrounded all sides of the draft
A woman with panda eyes, wearing a long gray sweat
shirt and black leotards, had tried to talk me out of leaving the
U S. She worked for a Quaker group in Chicago and lovingly
told of federal marshalls invading the office and carrying off
their heroic director I looked at the doorjamb for fingernail
marks If I went to jail for five years she promised to write me
every week
When I reached Montreal I went to the War Resister's
League, thinking they could help me find a job and a place to
stay The fat bearded man behind the desk listened to me
while he opened the mail He made two piles of contributions
— stuffing the biggest pile into his pocket "Sorry, Kid Can't
help'ya,’’ he said, dismissing me with a wave
I saw the dead end sign that night in the Imagiste Cafe In
a few days I got over the sickness and reentered the United
States under an assumed name I applied for conscientious
objector status through my draft board in Illinois and im
mediately left town Months later a letter was forwarded to me
in San Francisco I had been granted conscientious objector
status I was lucky I could've stopped living like each day
was my last — but I didn't
Cort Femald is the Emerald's editorial page editor A
number of years ago he got up from his leatherette recliner
and turned off the television set He pulled on his gray
cardigan sweater and buttoned it over his ample paunch
"I’m going out for a pack of cigarettes," he called to his wife
Edna in the kitchen washing the dinner dishes He rounded
the corner, walked down the block, and never looked back.
Reagan reneges on draft
By retaining draft registration for 18- to
21-year-olds, Pres Ronald Reagan con
tradicted a campaign stance that was highly
critical of then Pres Carter's reinstatement
of a draft registration But it is not surprising
when a politician once in office "revises" his
campaign views No one expected Reagan to
honor his previous stance and eliminate draft
registration The voices of Defense Secre
tary Casper Weinberger and Secretary of
State Alexander Haig persuaded Reagan
that rescinding draft registration would illus
trate American weakness to the Soviet
Union Although, in Europe, draft registra
tion is viewed as war-mongermg by the
Reagan administration
There has been, and always will be, little
if any justification other than symbolic for
draft registration during peacetime And it is
ironic that the budget-conscious Reagan
administration is wasting the taxpayers'
money on a program not fully implemented
Reagan recently said his administration
"remains steadfast in its commitment to an
all-volunteer defense force," Apparently
Reagan's steadfast commitment is not so
securely fastened in view of his retaining
draft registration The fact that more than
800,000 18- to 21-year-olds have not
complied with registration must have had a
hand in motivating continued registration A
grace period has been granted to the delin
quent registrants The penalty for failure to
register is five years in jail and $10,000 fine —
but no one as yet has had specific charges
brought against them Meanwhile, anti-draft
groups across the country are urging 18- to
21-year-olds not to register, and they are
listening
The forces are shaping up for another
battle over the draft We would think Reagan
would note the trend and stick to his spoken
determination to make the all-volunteer mili
tary successful The standing armed forces
at present strengths are adequate for
preliminary defense The primary concern is
with fielding a large-scale emergency force
with both speed and efficiency. We submit
that the lack of a tangible emergency situa
tion is grounds in itself to eliminate draft
registration When and if a substantial na
tional threat arises the number of volunteers
will outstrip draft registrants Look to the past
two world wars — there wasn't an absence of
volunteers once a threat to this country
became real
Studies on mobilizing emergency man
power say present draft registration could
save nearly six weeks That figure is almost
archaic It goes without saying that the
character of modern warfare is quite differ
ent Modern warfare has greatly reduced the
timeframe of previous wars A war can last
anywhere from seven days to 30 minutes
with present technology The six weeks
mobilization criteria is laughably moot
Reagan s retaining of draft registration
is a contradiction of his campaign promise
and pointless as a measure to ensure a
defense force Besides this, continued draft
registration tears the stitches from an old
wound that caused bloodshed to be spilled
on the streets of America Are we to fight
each other forever over lessons supposedly
learned ?
letters
I
Complacence?
With all the news on the
Polish front, isn't it about time
for another Szymanskt vs Wix
man and Reynolds debate7 Su
rely Szymanski can produce an
article from The New York
Times verifying that Lech Wale
sa is a CIA agent And Wixman
can certainly come up with
some new statistics on how
many Uzbekistani Muslims are
being repressed in Silesia
Reynolds can then elucidate
on the relative popularity of the
Pope vs Kojack among the
Polish populace
What has happened to our
pro-Soviet anti-Soviet campus
tactions? Are they growing
complacent in their approach
ing middle age9 Come on guys,
get off your tushies
Anne Landgren
Eugene
staff
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