I agree [shudder] with Art.

The point of Rangel's proposal is that it should be inclusive. No one except those with permanent mental disability should be exempt from a civic duty. Even those with these problems can be allowed to served if they so choose, just not in situations where they would endanger others.

To paraphrase the example in Heinlein, even if you are blind and deaf, if you can count the fuzz on a caterpillar, an assignment can be fitted to your abilities. Of course, with so many of our youth being brought into service, perhaps we can give them useful assignments, such as medical training, teaching in the inner cities, being assigned to the Peace Corps, etc.

Of course, if the person volunteers for these specific assignments, they cannot be sent to Iraq or whatever other hellhole our government has selected for demolition.

By the way, I managed to avoid Viet Nam--Lottery number 357. My brother was not so lucky. His number was 120. Being one of those invited to leave after Mark Rudd's takeover of Columbia, he and a companion went to Mexico to check out the Medical School of the University of Mexico in Mexico City. They got robbed of everything except his car and got killed on the way home. My parents still have not recovered.