Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal appeared on “The Colbert Report” Thursday and explained to host Stephen Colbert why it is time to reinstate the draft:
Colbert: You think we should bring the draft back.
McChrystal: I do.
Colbert: And as someone too old to be drafted, I agree with you. What do you think that would do for us as a nation?
McChrystal: What I really believe in is that service changes you. I think service made me better than I would have been otherwise. I think every young American should have an opportunity to do service for the nation, not necessarily military. Maybe in health care. Maybe in education. And I think everyone should get the chance to spend a year at paid national service. I think it would change how they feel about citizenship. I think it would change how we feel about each other. I think people from Connecticut would get to know people from east L.A. I think we’d certainly start to mend some of the divisions in our society.
Colbert: Without the draft, how would Forrest Gump have met Bubba? We wouldn’t have that delicious shrimp company in times square.