Letter: Draft one way to keep kids off streets

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006 | 6:58 a.m.

I'd like to expand upon Richard Rychtarik's Dec. 23 letter, "Another way to look at the military draft." In a nutshell, his idea is to draft youthful dropouts who become liabilities rather than assets to our way of life. It's a good beginning, and we do have to start somewhere if we are going to survive the 21st century.

We are severely distressed in fighting two great wars of attrition. They are worlds apart, yet their commonality is interesting in that both were launched with pre-emptive strikes in which public opinion was swayed with faulty intelligence.

The first, of course, is Iraq, which is now the epicenter of a global struggle. The second is what I presently refer to as the Seventy Years War. It is commonly known as the War on Drugs, and it too is a global struggle. This domestic catastrophe parallels Iraq in terms of money wasted, lives ruined, and the inability to contain or defeat the enemy.

So, since we can't keep drugs off the streets and flowing into the hands of kids who roam without supervision, let's take the kids off the streets and away from the drugs, place them under intense supervision, and give them missions that offer myriad futures in which they can turn their lives around and grow into productive members of society.

While such a concept in and of itself is open to charges of discrimination, it is also a starting point in which all of our youth can eventually participate on a more comprehensive level.

With all the problems we have in this day and age, this is an opportunity that is staring us in the face, and it could be a crucial first step in forcing a turnaround in which we can reverse a steady decline in values, which, if left unchecked, will lead to our destruction.

Fred Bilello, Las Vegas