Military voids the draft

Scripps Howard: The Army did the right thing for the right reason, but the way it was handled verged on the cruel. West Point had a standout defensive back, Caleb Campbell, who at any other school would have been destined for pro football.

Nonetheless, the Detroit Lions took a chance on him, knowing that he faced a military commitment, and drafted him in the seventh round. Initially, the Army was delighted at the publicity and the recruiting potential, both for the Army itself and the academy’s struggling football program.

Campbell was given the OK to try out and told that if he made the team he could fulfill his service obligation by serving as an Army recruiter in the Detroit area. To Campbell, it was the best of both worlds.

Then, literally on the eve of training camp, the Army told Campbell, who had already been fitted for his helmet, and the Lions that he would have to serve at least two years of active duty before he could apply for early release.

Good soldier

Campbell, to use an old phrase, was a good soldier about it, and he will return to the academy as a graduate assistant football coach. And if the Army releases him in two years, he’s young enough to have another try at the pros.

The Navy and the Air Force had been peeved at the Army’s Campbell exception. The Navy had just told a pitcher who had graduated from its academy and been drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals that he must serve his full five-year commitment.

This is hardly an ongoing problem for the services. The exceptions are so few as to be well known -- Naval Academy graduates David Robinson, serving for two years before going on to be a star center with the San Antonio Spurs, and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach serving five years before going on to a stellar 11-year career that landed him in the Hall of Fame.

But the fact is, youngsters going into the service academies are making a serious commitment, more so than their contemporaries at the football factory schools. In peacetime, perhaps, considerable flexibility could be allowed, but a strained military is now fighting two wars.

The Army made the right call. Campbell will make a fine officer.