[oldembed width="420" height="245" src="https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" flashvars="launch=47657230^36443^736670&width=420&height=245" fid="2"]
It's easy to love the troops when you don't have to be the troops--Col. Jack Jacobs (ret.)
Chris Hayes is still quite visibly moved by the uproar caused by his Memorial Day show, when he expressed discomfort with the ubiquitous use of the word "hero" to discuss our military, because rhetorically, it shuts down all discussion of justifications of war. It's a fair point, if inartfully made, and I'm sure that he's still feeling the reverberations from the blowback he received in the last week.
But the larger discussion deserves--and gets--exploration. And Chris Hayes give is the respect and time it needs, speaking to MSNBC's Military Analyst Col. Jack Jacobs (ret.), Josh Trevino, founder of RedState.com and an Iraq war vet, Anu Bhagwati, co-founder of the Service Women's Action Network and Kayla Williams, of the Truman National Security Project and also an Iraq vet.
The percentage of the US population who are active duty military is ridiculously small (less than one percent). It's not enough to slap a yellow ribbon magnet on your car and feel self-satisfied that you support the troops, safe and anesthetized, tens of thousands of miles away, as they endure their third, fourth and fifth tour of duty. It's not enough.
Jacobs suggests that bringing back the draft would bring more skin in the game. And while the notion sends shivers down my spine, I agree with the premise that if the war was everpresent in our collective consciousness, it would not still be dragging on in its eleventh year.
