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By law, every male American must either register with the military when he turns 18 or forfeit the right to certain social benefits provided by the government. Imagine how your life would change if you were drafted immediately after high school for service in your country.
Well I'm well past that age. But my life would be completely different in at least one major way. I wouldn't be married to Steve. I would likely have never met Steve. I would have never done anything that I've done on account of knowing Steve (*cough*joingaia*cough*)
Aside from that big thing and everything it entails, I'm not sure what else would be so different for me. I know that being in the army has changed my brother, mostly for the better. He did have a phase where he seemed to be starting down the path towards becoming an alcoholic, but he probably would have had that phase had he gone to a normal 4 year college as well. But overall he's definitely matured.
I probably would not have been able to handle such things as well as he did. For one, I may be a small person, but I'm by no means physically fit. I stress out when things get rough and become overemotional and sometimes irrational. I'm much better at handling these sorts of things now, but I'm also 24 now. At 18, I was not as good. I certainly would have thought about deserting I'm sure, but I'm also the sort to think empty threats xd
That aside, I'm really not sure what else would be that different. I feel that there are other things in my life that have made me the sort of person like my brother has become. I would still have probably met people similar to those I know now. I might not be such a computer nerd. I'd probably be living in a different area of the country.
All in all, I'm just happy that things went like they have, and that there was no forced draft xd 90% of the time, I'm happy with my life, my friends, all the experiences I've gone through to get to where I am. And because of that, I don't like to think about how different they might be had something in the past been different biggrin
