Looking at how the State Defense Service (SDS) law was developed and adopted, mixed feelings and reflections prevail. As a “Latvian abroad” I have memories of how the resistance movement against conscription developed in the USA during the Vietnam War. During the unpopular, senseless war, not even with pressure, all the necessary warriors could be collected – some of the conscripts “took the tailcoats” to Canada, even to Sweden. The conscripts often turned out to be bad warriors, used drugs in Vietnam, rioted and even pelted their officers with hand grenades, so-called “fragging” (from bombs that shoot shrapnel or fragments). The last years and months of the war were the worst.
In transitioning to an all-volunteer, professional armed force, the US continued some exemplary things that
