Re: Mission to Mars

But _which form_ of National Service wasn't up to you once you'd
>volunteered. You signed a Blank Cheque that let "them" put you wherever
you
>were needed, "from each according to his ability, to each according to
his
needs."
>A good Nuclear Physicist would almost certainly be put onto Nuclear
Physics.
>But an academic mediocrity in good health, an athlete with no practical
training
>but high IQ could well end up in the PBI.
>
>Sorry I didn't make myself clear. FWIW I agree with what you say, I
just
didn't
>express myself as cogently as you did.

Hey, no prob *g*

I hope you got the "I'm being a smartass" part of my message too - I
wan't
trying to put you down seriously.

And you're completely right of course, about the choice issue (of which
a
volunteer had none).  The interesting part of the his National Service
was
that, if I recall correctly, it was ALL military.  As someone else
pointed
out, Heinlein himself said that the vast number of citizens never held a
weapon, but the whole point of volunteering for national service was
that
you knew, even if you were sure that you were going to end up in Nuclear
Physics, that there was some potential that the government might put you
in
a position whereby you were risking your life.	Remember Carl - he was
pure
science, but got whacked when his research station was greased.  The
important part of volunteering for National Service was that you were,
by
taking the oath, putting your life on the line for the society as a
whole -
and by doing so and serving your term, you demonstrated that you could
be
entrusted with the interests of the society, and thereby were allowed
citizenship and the vote.  

While I don't advocate an opinion for or against his ideas, as Los
pointed
out (I think) one of the great things about Heinlein's writing was that
he
was willing to postulate a society with political values that many of us
would consider extreme.  Makes for interesting and exciting reading.

Adrian Johnson
adrian.johnson@sympatico.ca