Selective Service: Ready for a draft
Although Congress is unlikely to follow calls from a top Democrat to bring back the military draft, the United States does have a plan, if necessary, aimed at inducting millions of young men for service.
The Selective Service System, an agency independent of the Defense Department, says it's ready to respond quickly to any crisis that would threaten to overwhelm the current all-volunteer military.
"We're prepared to do the mission with whatever time period we're asked to do it in. Our current plan is 193 days and that was based on manpower analysis."
With an active list of more than 15 million names, Schuback said an estimated 93 percent of all men in the United States between 18 and 26 have registered for the Selective Service, as required by law.
While U.S. commanders insist sending more U.S. troops is not the answer in Iraq, they concede they really couldn't maintain a much bigger force than the 150,000 deployed there now because the U.S. military is just too small.
Military experts say it's highly doubtful a military draft would ever again be green-lighted because the volunteer system works.
They also say any major attack against the United States would certainly result in a surge of additional volunteers that would make a draft unnecessary.
There's something about that last line that makes me very uncomfortable, I just can't quite put my finger on it...
Read on...
And in other news:
Larry, Moe, and Curly Consider Raising Troop Levels in Iraq
LARRY:
Pentagon officials conducting a review of Iraq strategy are considering a substantial but temporary increase in American troop levels and the addition of several thousand more trainers to work with Iraqi forces, a senior Defense Department official said Monday.
Moe:
But some officials and senior military officers are arguing against the idea, saying that it could undercut a sense of urgency for Iraqi units to take on a greater role in fighting the insurgency and preventing sectarian attacks. Gen. John P. Abizaid, the head of the United States Central Command, told Congress last week that the military was stretched so thin that such an increase could not be sustained over the long term.
Curly:
Bwoop boopboopboopboopboop...
Throw it against the wall, boys, and see what sticks...
Read on...
5 comments:
I know you are against the draft, and so am I, but have you ever thought of the potential problems with an all volunteer or professional military? Often, they become ripe for use as tools of a dictatorship. With a conscripted army, there is generally not that problem. Too many independent thinkers. My brother, who was a career Marine pilot, was actually opposed to a fully professional military for exactly the reason I've said. Not enough checks and balances.
I thought they beat that independent thinking out of you in basic training? I can’t imagine a bunch of freethinking grunts would have much pull one way or the other. The Vietnam War was full of people who didn’t want to be there and knew it was a bogus war, but they had no power to do anything about it.
When it's a righteous war, you don’t have these kinds of problems because you have the support of the people and the hearts of the men who are fighting.
You start forcing people to fight a war they’re absolutely against, then you have neither.
When I was in the military they tried that on me but it didn't take. It works better on some than others that I worked with when I was a crew chief. Some were gung ho and some couldn't care less they thought for themselves anyway.
But I picked a better time in between wars to be in the Air Force and wasn't drafted. It would've been a lot different if I had since at least I knew it was my own choice to be there even if most of my other choices were taken away when I was there.
I don't agree with with what cait said since people are going to be free thinkers no matter whether they are a professional army or not. The difference being is that they're going to do a better job if they've chosen to be there than if they were just stuck there.
The checks and balances don't come from the military, they're supposed to come from the politicians, who've let us down. When was the last time Bush listened to any of the generals that have told him how screwed up things are?
I till don’t understand. I didn’t think you were allowed to think in the military. Ok that didn’t come out right, but you know what I mean. I thought you were only allowed to follow orders. Check your opinions at the door.
Well a favorite expression I heard a lot in the militarty was "We don't pay you to think" but that doesn't mean you stop doing it.
Just because your opinions don't count doesn't stop you from having them. As they also used to say, you can tell them to fuck off but you can't make it stick because they have the last say.
You can't quit it like a regular job because slaves have to be freed. And I heard this poem while I was stationed in England "I screwed in France, I've screwed in Spain, I've screwed in England and I'll screw again. But I know in my heart that I'll never be free until I've screwed the Air Force like they screwed me."
And that was with an all volunteer military, it would be a lot worse with people drafted that didn't want to be there. I had a lot of my friends busted for drugs and other discipline problems when I was there and that would probably increase ten times when people were drafted.
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