Poll Shows Most High Schoolers Think Draft Will Return

WASHINGTON -- Most U.S. high-school students believe the government will restart the military draft during their lifetimes, and shrinking numbers are optimistic about the country's future, a new poll finds.

Among teenagers, 55 percent say young Americans will be required to serve in the military, up from 45 percent last year, according to "The State of Our Nation's Youth," an annual survey by the Horatio Alger Association.

During the year between polls - May 2003 to May 2004 - U.S. casualties mounted during attacks in Iraq even after President Bush declared on May 1, 2003, that major combat had ended.

Former President Nixon halted the draft in 1973. Pentagon leaders and numerous generals and admirals have said it should not be resumed because the volunteer military is more efficient. Critics including Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry have accused the Pentagon of engaging in a "backdoor draft" to compensate for manpower shortages in Iraq with wholesale mobilizations National Guard and Reserve units and other retention tactics.

In the poll, respondents were asked their views of a mandatory military service requirement of two years, and 70 percent of students were opposed.

Still, more young people than not said the United States was right to go to war in Iraq. The poll found 44 percent said the decision was correct, 33 percent said it was wrong, and the rest had no opinion or were unsure.

The students' outlook for the country was dimmer this year, but it remained relatively high, as 68 percent said they were hopeful. That was down from 75 percent last year.

More than two-thirds of students said they care who wins the presidential race, but two-thirds also said they have not closely followed news reporting about the race.

The Horatio Alger Association, which provides college scholarships to needy students, issued its report Tuesday. Results are based on a telephone poll of 1,007 students in grades nine to 12 at the time of the survey, taken May 5 to 7. The students ranged in age from 13 to 19, although most were 15 to 17.

The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Friday, August 6, 2004
Secretary Rumsfeld Interview with “The John &Ray Show,” WUSN-FM Radio

RAY: We’re getting mixed signals from -- I know there’s a lot of people out there that say Rumsfeld wants to bring back the draft. And I…

SEC. RUMSFELD: [Chuckles] Oh, no.

RAY: No, no. I mean, well, let’s clear that up right away, because I know that’s not true because…

SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh.

RAY: … if I’m not mistaking, weren’t you one of the first guys to do away with the draft?

SEC. RUMSFELD: I was one of the first people in Congress to introduce legislation to go to an all-volunteer Army and military. And as a matter of fact, there was a big conference at the University of Chicago with Milton Freedman and a whole host of people and there were many – I testified before the House and Senate as a young congressman recommending that we end the draft. We don’t need the draft. We’ve got the ability to pay people what they’re worth and to adjust incentives so we can attract and retain the people we need. And fortunately, we have a relatively small number of people in the military, compared to our population, so we’re not having trouble attracting and retaining the people we need.

Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Interview with Paul W. Smith, Newstalk 760 Radio, WJR Detroit

Q: You have been working, Mr. Secretary, on changing – really, our military in many, many ways, replacing an old model for sizing forces with a newer approach, more relevant to the 21st century. And there’s been conversation -- even argument -- as to whether our forces are large enough. It used to be to be able to wage two wars at once. You remember all of those discussions in days gone by. There are people who are saying, in fact, that maybe we need to go back to the draft. What do you say?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, it’s – first of all, it’s an important discussion and debate and I think it’s a good thing that the country has this discussion. The problem is that there’s a tendency for people in the 21st century to still have their 20th century thinking caps on. And they tend to equate capability with numbers of things. For example, if you had 10 bombs, the theory is that’s better than five bombs. But if you have 10 smart bombs that have the capability of 10 bombs per one dumb bomb, obviously, you can get along with a lot fewer. And the same thing’s true with many other aspects of it, whether it’s ships, guns, tanks or planes. So we need to think in 21st century terms, in terms of lethality, in terms of speed of deployability, in usability of the capabilities, rather than simply numbers of things.

In the case of the draft, I must say I feel very strongly that the country does not need a draft and should not go back to the draft, that we are having in a country of -- whatever it is now -- 275 million people, with an active force of 1.4 million, we are having no trouble at all maintaining a force that’s appropriate. We have decided consciously that we want to have a total force concept where we have some on active duty and some in the Guard and Reserves who we don’t need full time, but we may need from time to time to come on active duty and to assist the country. That’s what we’re doing. It’s working very well. Recruiting and retention is excellent. And I think people recommending the draft are mistaken, suggesting that we don’t have the ability to have as many people on active duty as we need. We do have that ability. It’s simply a matter of adjusting the incentives, which is what one would do in any other activity in life.

Q: Mr. Secretary, then when Senator Kerry says that using the Reserves is really – I can’t remember exactly how he said it, but like a backdoor draft – you would disagree with that?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Why, certainly. I mean, my goodness anyone knows that anyone in the Reserve is there voluntarily. There’s not a single person in the Reserves who didn’t raise their hand, sign up and say “Send me, I want to joint the Reserve.” I stayed in the active naval Reserve after I left active duty in the Navy for many, many years, fully understanding that my assignment was to drill one weekend a month, go on two weeks’ active duty a year and be available, in the event the country needed, to call to active duty the Reserves or the Guard for some special relatively short-term period. And I was happy to do it, and everyone in the Guard and Reserve is there because that’s what they made a conscious decision to do.

Poll shows most high schoolers readily eat up DNC talking points.

The ONLY sponsors (including the 14 co-signers) are Democrats. It is purely a campaign scare tactic cooked up by the 'Rats to court the youth vote. Forums for young people and blogs have propagated the rumor that President Bush is seeking to bring back the draft (propagated by good li'l democrat operatives, doesn't matter whether they were paid to do this or not).

If these students would stop downloading porn, playing online games, and engaging in online cam sessions long enough to look up the 2 bills, they would see that the only people who are proposing a draft are Democrats. If they want to see the draft become a reality, support Democrats, kids.

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