Dilemma Essay, Research Paper
UOP
Personal Dilemma/Values Paper
Michael L Harmon
Gen 480
January 11, 2001
A dilemma that I experienced has to do with the military. In 1992 I had a values conflict that had to do with my job situation. At that time, we had just elected a new president. This man, who had publicly acknowledged the fact that he did not go to Vietnam, but in fact, received his draft notice in 1969. Clinton requested Senator Fulbright and others to help him get into the ROTC unit at the University of Arkansas. That ROTC unit was already filled to capacity and there was a waiting line. With the assistance of Sen. Fulbright’s office, a series of lies to Col. Holmes at the University of Arkansas ROTC unit, he was able to get his draft notice suspended pending enrollment into ROTC, which of course he never did. During this process, he violated several laws.
In Section 50 of the U.S. Constitution, it states that no man shall be accepted for ROTC enlistment after he has received an order to report for induction unless authorized by the Secretary of Defense. The next law he broke was Section 801 which states that a person that had registered for draft, was delinquent, and was mailed notice to report before certain date or he would be in military service of United States, he was subject to trial by court-martial after that date, and it was not necessary to show his receipt of notice. The third law he broke was the fact that Clinton was not enrolled as a student at the school where he enrolled into ROTC, so he was in violation of Section 32 which states that students desiring enrollment in a unit must be enrolled in and attending full time a regular course of instruction at a school participating in the program.
Clintons? ROTC enlistment was accomplished illegally withholding the fact he had already been drafted and by unlawfully withholding the fact that he had two years ROTC experience at Georgetown University. By rejoining ROTC, he had automatically committed himself to a mandatory two years of active duty in the army. He had refused to sign up for the third year of ROTC earlier for this very reason. Section 10 states that any member who is selected for third and fourth year of the program is may be ordered to active duty by the Secretary of the military department concerned to serve in his enlisted grade or rating for such period of time as the Secretary prescribes but not for more than two years. Clinton didn?t follow this part of the law. He should have been persecuted when he submitted his informal resignation in a letter dated December 1969. This violates another section of the law. Section 50 states that once a student has signed up, he must complete that course unless relieved of his duties by the Secretary of the Army. He also broke some additional laws. These include fraudulent enlistment, failure to report for induction, failure to inform the armed forces of his departure of the country, and the rest pertain to her stint while in England.
While in England, he violated quite a few serious laws which include aiding the enemy, mutiny, rebellion, treason, and this same Bill Clinton who broke all those laws to stay out of military service was known for leading anti-war demonstrations — until after he received a draft number that kept him out of the draft. Even though the fighting in Vietnam continued, Billy stopped being a war protester. When he has been asked why, he has not responded.
. I experienced a dilemma due to these facts. I was not sure if I that I would be able to serve under a commander and chief who had dodged the draft and violated all these laws. This conflict caused me a major dilemma. First of all, I enjoyed my time in service and I had planned to make a career out of it. After he got elected, I had to re-evaluate my situation: Should I stay and serve a commander who would was everything from a draft dodge to a person who would have been executed for performing treason to his own country. This was a major dilemma.
The values that I felt were in conflict were my sense of duty. In duty, you are to serve to utmost of your ability. However, I was coming to realize that this would not be possible with this kind of man. A man who would commit high treason. Shouldn?t he have been prosecuted? Why wasn?t he prosecuted? This was my major dilemma.
After a long deliberation on what to do regarding this situation, I decided to separate from the service. I based this decision on the following reasons. First, I could not see myself serving under such a man such as this. A man, who was everything from a draft dodger to a man who would commit treason against his own country. I definitely would not change my decision. I believe that this decisions shows that I did what I felt was morally right.
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