Several people, including a few good friends, have mentioned to me that they think a draft should be implemented. I think this is a very important question, and I have been thinking about it and researching it over the last several days. Honestly, there are people with PhDs researching motivation behind enlistment and running statistical models on this kind of stuff, so this will be a poor contribution in comparison. I think as a military wife who sees first hand what the "Long War" is doing to our families and soldiers, this deserved some thought. I hope it spurs you, dear reader, to thought as well.
The status quo is unsustainable.
There are about 1.4 million people serving on active duty. The census site puts our population at 307 million. That does include people too old and too young too serve, but that is an amazing ratio to me.
Some service members are on their 5th deployment. There are still some soldiers who have not yet deployed, but I think the Army is finally catching up with them.
Is a draft the answer? For the record, the Army is meeting enlistment and retention goals currently.
The draft was ended in 1973, though males are still required to register with Selective Service. The draft started during the Civil War, where men (age range differed in North and South) were required to serve in the Army for 2 years. There were riots in New York over the draft. The wealthy could send someone else in their place or pay $300 in lieu of service. During Vietnam, people could get deferments for college and other reasons, or join the Natl Guard. The poorest often didn't meet the intake requirements (low aptitude, criminal records, etc), leaving the middle class to bear the brunt of the draft. These days, parents who want their kids to go to college will be FURIOUS if their little darling that they have been coddling for the past 17 years had to do something else for 2 years first. Though I could argue many college kids would benefit from a year or two in the military.
The Army has already said that it is harder to find suitable enlistees. The population is fatter. More kids are treated for asthma and psychological issues (ADHD, ODD, etc). High school dropouts aren't eligible. Some kids can't score well on the ASVAB. Would a draft truly improve our military? Or would we end up with kids with an attitude problem on the line next to my husband?
Israel is cited as a nation that has a successful mandatory service. Here is a link to follow for info on the IDF. Let me throw a hypothesis out to you. It works for Israel for a few reasons that do not apply to us.
Israel is a relatively young country (though the Nation of Israel in the biblical sense is very old). This is how it has always been. I think it would be very hard to implement over two hundred years later, barring a dire circumstance.
Israel is surrounded by nations that would like to see it wiped off the map. Every time Mahmoud Amhadinejad (President of Iran) opens his mouth, he makes sure "death to Israel" is worked into his speech. Car bombs have gone off in front of restaurants in Israel. Hezbollah was firing rockets into Israeli towns. Citizens will respond when their country is in need. Mercifully, we are not in that situation, although the Times Square bomber certainly gave it a shot.
I think our lack of servicemembers comes down to the self-centered culture that has spread like a cancer through our country. Our "public servants" consistently vote themselves pay raises. Teachers demand pay raises because their job is hard (true), though their benefits are legion and (in NJ) paid for entirely by the taxpayers.
Some where along the way, the notion of sacrifice became maligned.
More on that in a bit. Time to take #4 to ballet.
Need a read in the meantime? Try here for an interesting study on the military population, here for FAQ from Army's recruiting command, here for a paper from Strategic Studies Institute about the effect of deployments on adolescents, here for a story about re-enlistments and bonuses in certain fields.
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