Is the draft about to be reinstated?

The US is running out of soldiers. Last April the military extended the tours of duty for active-duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan from 12 months to 15 months while calling many other troops back after 9 or 10 months stateside. The soldiers had been furloughed with the promise of a year stay at home. The current surge in Iraq has further depleted the strategic reserves of the US armed forces. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 17, 2007 said, “We have a strategy right now that is outstripping the means to execute it,”

Volunteers are no longer sufficient to maintain the numbers necessary to continue fighting the war in Iraq and insure the continued protection of American citizens. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an international relations professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said, “For the first time since Vietnam, we are caught with no strategic reserve. We simply do not have a strategic fallback position for the crisis that will come inevitably,” There are only two ways to increase the size of the military – improved recruitment including increased financial incentives or reinstating the draft.

I can think of two reasons recruitment will not have a significant impact.

One: the war in Iraq is becoming very unpopular.

Four years ago there seemed to be strong patriotic reasons to invade Iraq. Today the majority of US citizens question why we went there and why we stay there. According to a recent CNN poll 65% of the American public disapprove of the war in Iraq. With no clear goals the American public sees the war as a quagmire we may never get out of. Increasingly young Americans see the war as one they don’t want to get into. As a result the ads to become “Army Strong” are having less and less effect. Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul said it best, “Unpopular wars invite conscription”

Two: Increased financial incentives are not workable.

According to the defense dept. in 2003 the Army Guard and Reserve paid out about $27 million in reenlistment bonus’s, in 2006 that figure jumped to $335 million. The army’s costs increased from 60 million in 2003 to $600 million plus in 2006. In 2005 alone the Army increased enlistment incentives eight times. This year the enlistment bonus was raised to $40,000. The cost per recruit has jumped from $7,000 per recruit in 1985 to more than $16,000 today. It is becoming financially unviable to continue with a volunteer military.

Which leaves the draft to supply the military with the soldiers it needs. But is a military draft workable? The public has hated the draft since Congress passed the first conscription act in U.S. history on March 3, 1863. A dubious first that incited violent riots in New York City. It has been estimated over one hundred people lost their lives in the rioting. The Army restored order using bayonets and artillery although Navy ships did not bombard New York City from the harbor as depicted by the Scorsese film “Gangs of New York”.

Many see the draft as forced labor, slavery to the government. Ron Paul quoting Ronald Regan said, “Another eloquent opponent of the draft was former President Ronald Reagan who in a 1979 column on conscription said: “…it rests on the assumption that your kids belong to the state. If we buy that assumption then it is for the state — not for parents, the community, the religious institutions or teachers — to decide who shall have what values and who shall do what work, when, where and how in our society. That assumption isn’t a new one. The Nazis thought it was a great idea.” … In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to stand up for the long-term military interests of the United States, individual liberty, and values of the Declaration of Independence by cosponsoring my sense of Congress resolution opposing reinstatement of the military draft.”
In Reinstating the Draft Part II I will explore why many in the military are also opposed to the draft.

[1] Marine Corps Times

Thursday Apr 19, 2007 5:32:46 EDT

Experts: Force increases may not be enough

By Rick Maze - Staff writer

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/04/military_groundforces_draft_070417w/

[2] HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS

BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

November 21, 2003

Conscription- The Terrible Price of War

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr112103.htm