How Close are we to a US Draft?

Not having so many troops abroad wouldn't be so much of a stretch, would it?

BTW, Germany still has a draft.

Also, during the early 70s, Israel had 4 civilians for every military person. Would you call Israel in the 70s an oligarchy or dictatorship?
 
Not exactly a fair analogy. Israel stands alone entirely surrounded by Muslem nations. It's quite small and needed such amounts of troops to keep the nation from being wiped off the map. Name me any other nations under such circumstances.
 
FULLMETALJACKET said:
mohmar, what the heck is that suppose to mean.
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What I mean is that if you don't want your military resources to be stretched too much, you should either increase your budget, decrease the pay, don't improve equipment too often or renounce pull troops out of places you don't think they should mean.

Now can someone provide me a figure on US foreign military deployment?
 
Mohmar, the US Armed Forces live off of our economy, not because of our economy. Therefore Israel is far from a fair comparison.

And even so I'd love to see where you came up with the 1:3 ratio.

Besides, Germany proves my point. Mandatory draft, dead economy.
 
Don't believe so - but you never know!

When the draft finally came to an end, I for one didn't really miss it. However, talk keeps cropping up everytime the recruiters miss making monthly target recruitments. These shortfalls seem to be happening with some regularity. Authorites try to give the impression that all is well and that adequate numbers of young men and women are entering the pipeline to offset losses. In some areas this is true but in other areas we are having difficulty finding troops to relieve troopers who have already spent two and three tours of duty in the war zones of Iraq.

How or when this shortage will no longer be a problem is anybodies guess. The draft is so unpopular with American citizens that it would most assuredly mean the loss of election of any Congressman or Senator who lobbied to reinstate it and because of this Congress will not place their necks on the chopping block. Instead they will continue to rotate military in and out of Iraq in a circular way due to lack of reserve units not already in the rotation pipeline for Iraq.

Bonus re-enlistments have ensured that some vital qualified personnel have not been lost but something will have to give in the near term future.

Will it require the reinstatement of the draft, I don't believe so - but you never know.
 
When the draft finally came to an end, I for one didn't really miss it. However, talk keeps cropping up everytime the recruiters miss making monthly target recruitments. These shortfalls seem to be happening with some regularity. Authorites try to give the impression that all is well and that adequate numbers of young men and women are entering the pipeline to offset losses. In some areas this is true but in other areas we are having difficulty finding troops to relieve troopers who have already spent two and three tours of duty in the war zones of Iraq.

How or when this shortage will no longer be a problem is anybodies guess. The draft is so unpopular with American citizens that it would most assuredly mean the loss of election of any Congressman or Senator who lobbied to reinstate it and because of this Congress will not place their necks on the chopping block. Instead they will continue to rotate military in and out of Iraq in a circular way due to lack of reserve units not already in the rotation pipeline for Iraq.

Bonus re-enlistments have ensured that some vital qualified personnel have not been lost but something will have to give in the near term future.

Will it require the reinstatement of the draft, I don't believe so - but you never know.
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Dear Member,

The problem with a new draft law would be that Congress will never pass one that includes women and the Supreme Court will strike down any draft law that excludes them today. To have a draft would most likely require a constitutional amendment. Also, the talk of those in Congress that supports having a draft would work against them in a court challenge -- ie they state the draft is needed to get so patriotism, backbone, etc in the youth of today -- because the Supreme Court has exempted past draft laws from the 13the Amendment based on a need for national defense, etc.

Also, in the news the Secretary of the US Army is doing what McNamara did in 1966 when enlistments went down and they wanted to reduce the draft quota during the Vietnam War: they are upping the number of Catagory IV (ie those that screen at the bottom of the military's entry aptitude test) to be accepted. This is what lead to the US Army almost self destructing during the last years of the Vietnam War. Retired US Army Sgts still have nightmares over this.

Finally, the draft though would serve one purpose and not the manpower need of the US Army: Today there are only 14 members of the US Congress who have a child or grandchild in the US military. An unbelievable low number for even peace-time not to mention today's war time.

Jack E. Hammond
 
Concur 100% with your deductions - between the two of us we have fairly well covered the ground as to why a new draft is highly unlikely.
 
jackehammond said:
Dear Member,

The problem with a new draft law would be that Congress will never pass one that includes women and the Supreme Court will strike down any draft law that excludes them today. To have a draft would most likely require a constitutional amendment. Also, the talk of those in Congress that supports having a draft would work against them in a court challenge -- ie they state the draft is needed to get so patriotism, backbone, etc in the youth of today -- because the Supreme Court has exempted past draft laws from the 13the Amendment based on a need for national defense, etc.

Also, in the news the Secretary of the US Army is doing what McNamara did in 1966 when enlistments went down and they wanted to reduce the draft quota during the Vietnam War: they are upping the number of Catagory IV (ie those that screen at the bottom of the military's entry aptitude test) to be accepted. This is what lead to the US Army almost self destructing during the last years of the Vietnam War. Retired US Army Sgts still have nightmares over this.

Finally, the draft though would serve one purpose and not the manpower need of the US Army: Today there are only 14 members of the US Congress who have a child or grandchild in the US military. An unbelievable low number for even peace-time not to mention today's war time.

Jack E. Hammond
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Dear Member,

I don't know how desperate they're getting as I have tried and been turned down on returning to service. I know some people are getting waivers on age older than I (I'm 37 incidentally). I received an Honourable Discharge for medical reasons and sent packing in 1995 as an E-6. But then I have seen stories where at least one helicopter pilot who had been involuntarily separated from the Army for medical reasons was recalled to service against his desires.

I have gotten medical proof that shows the tests used to diagnose my little cerebral ischemic event were adequate at the time but newer tests with better equipment show the problem is not what it was diagnosed to be at the time. I am by today's standards and regs, fit for service medically and lord knows I can hack it physically. But Uncle Sugar still doesn't want me.

This knowledge coupled with the reports I see in the media and even the bulletins I have seen posted in here by DTop and TomTom have left me scratching my head as to just WTF is going on. A similar issue happened with my step dad during Vietnam. In 1966 he volunteered to go, US Army, Infantry, Vietnam. But was rejected because one of his feet was a half size smaller than the other owing to a battle with polio when he was 16. So he tried again at another station 500 miles away in Wichita, KS, still no go. So he tried again in KC, Mo using a fake name and ID. No go. This is astounding when you consider at the time people were running away to Canada, burning their draft cards and getting their rich parents to secure them a spot in the National Guard to avoid what he was volunteering to do. Just what the hell is the thinking process in that? He felt he was being denied his duty and his right to serve his country when there was absolutely nothing wrong with his body other than having to issue him two different sized combat boots. When I graduated BASIC in early 88 he cried like a baby and was never more proud of me than he was then. And now it seems to have come full circle.

So I would say that yours and other peoples' thinking process as to whether or not the US returns to a draft is flawed in that you are using logic in your reasoning and the system is based on anything but logic.

Dogg, Bulldogg
 
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