Here's a cool trick the Romans used just before their empire crumbled (and the timing is perfect, since our empire is currently crumbling) - offer citizenship to anyone who serves in our army from a foreign land.

If we offered citizenship to Undocumented Workers in exchange for documents, we might not get the army we want, as Donnie would say, but we could avoid all that draft dodging and other uncomfortable feelings you generally have when you don't do your share.

And all those foreign nationals that now posses legal citizenship papers would also have been trained in combat prior to coming to the USA to live.....

Sweet!

The last Roman emperors were generals. The soldiers stayed on the frontiers even in retirement. Centurions and above were permanently in the Army. Bad analogy.

Eastern Empire or Western Empire?

I guess you could consider ALL the Emperors as generals, since they were not just emperors, but Commanders In Chief, like in the United States, but then that would be like saying that little george is a military guy, which obviously he is not.

All analogies are bad, but I am not sure what granting citizenship to undocumented recruits has to do with Romans living in the provinces after retirement has to do with my analogy.

Perhaps the US troops might want to stay in Iraq instead of coming back to the States? Maybe the Romans did their invasions/occupations better than we do.....

Augustus was a general? Arguably the best of the lot. Established the core that allowed the empire to exist as long as it did. At the end of the Roman Empire, prior to the sack of Rome, all the emperors came from the military. The Byzantine Empire is another block of history.

I read Julie's campaign in Gaul in the original latin, so I am familiar with the family, but what does any of that have to do with the dubious concept of filling the army with non-Romans during the decline?

I was just suggesting that since we are in a similar situation, perhaps we should try the same plan....

I don't know if it was original or not but I read it in Latin too, second year used the Commentary as a text. I doubt that the current high schools even teach Latin.

with anything?

The statement you made about the original post had nothing to do with the original post:

Here's a cool trick the Romans used just before their empire crumbled (and the timing is perfect, since our empire is currently crumbling) - offer citizenship to anyone who serves in our army from a foreign land.

If we offered citizenship to Undocumented Workers in exchange for documents, we might not get the army we want, as Donnie would say, but we could avoid all that draft dodging and other uncomfortable feelings you generally have when you don't do your share.

And all those foreign nationals that now posses legal citizenship papers would also have been trained in combat prior to coming to the USA to live.....

Sweet!

Maybe you just didn't understand the post.....

"The last Roman emperors were generals. The soldiers stayed on the frontiers even in retirement. Centurions and above were permanently in the Army. Bad analogy. "

My response. If you want our political leaders to be generals, the concept in your post might work. Otherwise bad analogy.

The political leaders do not have to be generals in order to enact legislation to allow the enlistment of non-nationals with the promise of citizenship.

I was just maintianing that when the Romans found themselves overextended and none of the Roman citizens were willing to march off to the middle east to face a lost cause, they began filling the ranks with extranationals. I figued we were in the same boat, and maybe we should try the same thing.

Granted, it probably contributed to the eventual breakdown of the empire, but we are headed that way anyway.