Posted on 08/10/2007 3:52:16 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Military draft should be considered: US war czar Aug 10 06:00 PM US/Eastern A top US military officer in charge of coordinating the US war effort in Iraq said Friday that it makes sense to consider a return of the draft to meet the US military's needs.
Lieutenant General Douglas Lutte, who serves as White House deputy national security adviser, said the all-volunteer military is serving "exceedingly well" and the administration has not decided it needs to be replaced with a draft.
But in an interview with National Public Radio, he said, "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table."
"But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
“Because you have the option of refusing to serve. In slavery, they kill you, or at least that is my understanding. Conscripts are also free to leave the country and renounce your citizenship....” - MSF BU
Judging from the 60’s SS system, you are wrong on all counts.
Before we commit more young people to the war effort in Iraq, we need to rid the government of the people who see the military as a huge social engineering laboratory.
Having posted that, if anything else happens we will not have a choice but draft our young. God help us! Our government has never been more elitist or corrupt than it is now.
Actually, read Helen Von Damme’s book. Reagan referred to a wartime draft as a necessity. Had we been fighting the Russians, Chinese or North Koreans, we would have been drafting people.
Were they killing people who refused to serve? I would have used the model in the fifties.
They are well aware of it. However it has been the policies of every sitting POTUS since Reagan and both parties in congress and senate who have prevented it from ever happening again. The manpower shortage is an artificial one that the mentioned above have purposely created.
Need more troops? Lower enlistment obligations back to 3/3 or 4/6 contracts. Raise the End Troop Strength Levels to a realistic number so those on active duty and reserves do not face deployment burn out. We have not had a decent Sec of Defense since Cap Weinberger nor POTUS for that matter. Cheney as Sec of Def was a big disaster the GOP will never admit to. It's odd that the only two presidents to downsize the U.S. military during time of war are father and son. We need another Reagan and the top four including the maybe run just don't cut it.
Another huge problem is as one poster stated. There is no more room in the Inn. Between the GHW Bush and Clinton closures there is little place left for training. Our military needs rebuilding and only the bottom three in the polls running for POTUS have realistic, logical, and workable answers.
Janey has forty percent less upper body strength than Johnny and she typically is only in the military courtesy of grossly reduced height/weight/physical-fitness standards. Johnny can't get pregnant and ask for 14 months off. Ultimately, because only the Army will be getting draftees, John will be the better choice to serve. Jane can volunteer if she wants; I'd prefer she not be given the lower standard tests they now hold her to.
Maybe so, but he proved himself wrong to, if that is the case.
The reality here and now is that we are fighting against a collection of undisciplined, poorly trained, lazy people. If we are going to fight a competent, sizeable Army again, we the Army will need to have draftees. There are many free (Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland) countries that draft their soldiers.
Really, how so? Perhaps I missed it at the time (and I was a soldier then) what ground war were we fighting? How many soldiers were being killed per day?
I agree with you on this. The first step along those lines is to completely eliminate different standards for women. Same standards for everybody and if anything make them real world, worst case and tougher.
I share your assessment, but I think unit cohesion is one of the reasons for our military forces’ level of professionalism, competence and integrity. Drafting idiots, malcontents and subversives could destroy our military cohesion.
That said, I think the military should increase the maximum age for volunteers for various mission specialties. In the increasingly technical military of today, there are plenty of mission specialties where a 40+ year old guy who is able to pass the entrance physical(s) should be allowed to volunteer and, as you say, relieve some of our people on the front lines.
You missed the part of my post that said put Janey in the non physical jobs that require the 40% higher strength. Or have the contracted all of those jobs out?
Draftees are typically short term MOS designees; MP, Infantry, Artillery, Truck Driver etc. Nobody gets drafted into the Navy or Air Force, and we don’t turn draftees into linguists or other time consuming specialties.
No, we only draft soldiers, not sailors or airman. Every new soldier needs to be able to perform as an infantryman. I’m not sure that there are really too many MOS’s where you can absolutely or even practically rule out that possibility. If we have another Bastogne or Pusan, everyone needs to be able to fight long term as an infantryman.
Everyone always mentions the glowing example of the Israeli women , but Israel does not put their women on the battle feild in the front lines.
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