Word: draft
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Ridgway's words were aimed not at the 100 reporters before him but at the representatives of six Continental nations gathering next day to discuss a common draft period for the European Army. The conference had been called by Belgium's conservative government, which is finding its two-year draft period-the longest in Western Europe-a worrisome political issue.* There had been antidraft riots in Brussels, sparked by Belgian Socialists, and a distressing though brief mutiny among Belgian conscripts. Prime Minister Jean van Houtte, anxious to convince Belgian voters that they were not being asked...
Next day, Van Houtte slashed Belgium's own draft period to 21 months. Result: the Belgians will not be able to fulfill their NATO obligation of three combat divisions to be ready this year. France and most other NATO nations are even farther behind. Of the 50 divisions scheduled to be ready in Western Europe during 1952, only 24 at best will be combat-ready. Fifteen more are half-formed but too short of equipment to form an effective reserve; the rest exist only on paper. As for the goal of 100 divisions by 1954-the year when NATO...
...Draft periods of other NATO countries: Canada: no draft, volunteers only; Luxembourg and Norway: 12 months; Denmark, France, Italy and Portugal: 18; The Netherlands: 20; Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom...
...times during those nine years Louis left the house long enough to make an inconspicuous trip to a local barbershop. (In between visits to the barber, Louis trimmed his own hair with a cutting comb.) One thing he didn't bother to do, however, was register for the draft. Constance Patton, an ardent believer in astrology, never felt the stars were quite right for this step...
...week's end Louis Patton had been freed on $2,000 bail, was back home in West Hartford, where his mother once again was guarding his privacy. On Aug. 19 Louis Patton will have to come out of seclusion to face charges of draft evasion. No charges at all have been placed against his mother...