>>Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as the Predator, for example, separate the airman physically from the battlefield, thus placing him or her at far less risk.<<
Obviously the author never read “Ender’s Game.” If he had, he would know really bad angst is a possible war risk...
The military turns liberals into common sense conservatives with a fear of G-d so I doubt they reinstate the draft.../s
Many engineering or computer firms continue thousands and thousands of foreigners ( often refusing to even interview Americans, including graduates of leading USA universities). So what to do with them all? Draft them!?
Must be universal. That means the gals as well, everyone being equal in ability and all that.
The only way I want a draft is if it is UMI Universal Military Service.
Either they need to take EVERYONE for two or three years or they need to have a volunteer army
That said through out history there have been only two kinds of armies, those made up of slaves and those made up of mercenaries. A volunteer army is a nice way of saying mercenary. If you look it is easy to see that of the two the mercenaries are the better army
There is no case for bringing back state servitude
That is why I wrote the Universal National Service Act, known as the "draft" bill, which requires all men and women between ages 18 and 25 to give two years of service in any capacity that promotes our national defense.
There are almost 22 million people between the ages of 20 and 24 (inclusive). That's an average of 4.4 million per year. Requiring these people to spend two years in the military would mean that the military size would jump from 2 million to 8.8 million, and that doesn't count those currently in the military above age 25. I suspect that the reason why Rangel has proposed this is not for the benefit of either the country or the military, but to bring back anti-war protests from Vietnam which were primarily anti-draft protests.
Also the budget to pay for a 9 million strong military would require that their pay be greatly reduced or that they would have essentially no equipment and no offensive capability but be required to spend their two years marching around the base or sitting around playing cards. And maybe that's another thing Rangel wants.
Stupid premise.
The drafts were required as we needed bodies on order of magnitude to meet similar forces.
Today, the Xbox generation are all specialists as we use computer aided arms as force multipliers and the assets can easily be deployed anywhere, anytime.
Do we need boots on the ground? Absolutely. However, we are using technologies that reduce manpower and extend our ability prosecute actions from ever greater distances.
Drones can be on station for hours, loitering until the opportunity to exact pain on a target presents itself.
We are also using self propelled hunters on the ground that can be lie in wait until it’s time to go boom.
Our weapons systems that were typically held by a man and could easily end an aggressor from 500 yards are now equipped with computers that ensure an accurate kill from miles away.
Our literal class ships also carry require 50% less men to operate, carry smart weapons and are 75% more effective than marine based assets of just 50 years ago.
we literally don’t require the number of bodies as a ratio to enemy forces we needed 50, 75 years and for wars fought during the Civil War and Revolution.
I know several drone operators and they don’t really fly their planes or have much involvement until they are on station over a target and a human element is required to ensure they are targeting an enemy, while minimizing injury/death to non-aggressors.
Further, they are able to adjust the mission if the target moves, tracking them until an opportune moment.
We have missile and gun boxes that can be dropped in area where an enemy is expected to be in range and bomb their asses or launch smart bullets.
There is no real need for a draft except that we might need bullet catchers until our elite forced can dispatch, with extreme prejudice any opponent.
I personally think it stupid to grab someone from their existing direction in life, and force them into a life they haven’t any desire to participate, expecting them to perform the critical, and necessary functions of a military operation. It makes no sense.
If I’m out there fighting NOT only for my country, but for my life against an enemy intent upon killing me, I don’t want some dumbass who could care less about his/her training, thoughtless about his/her surroundings, because he/she doesn’t want to be there the one I must depend upon for the support to win the moment, and live another day.
I’d really like to see this topic dismissed as really stupid. It’s been proven.
Draft all of the boys into infantry training first. Clean ‘em up and make men of ‘em. It would also lead to a revival of real conservatism.
The draft was far from being fair but it was a wide net that did bring together men from all walks and all levels of skill, smarts, culture, and patriotism.
For better and for worse.
The volunteer forces require commitment from the get-go and should be sure to draw only those who intend to make good at it.
Some for better and some for worse.
A conscripted military can either bring the home front together in support, as in WW2, or engender a sizeable anti-war movement as during Vietnam.
From everything we've seen since 9/11 it's clear that the volunteers are capable forces, but in the government's eye, they are assets to be driven until the wheels fall off.
Despite the apparent high quality of today's troops I'm confident that Rangle and his progressive allies are posturing about a draft because their supporters think that it would somehow equalize risk between the classes.
How often have we heard that so & so's kid didn't have to go to war but some poor kid joined up for the education benefits or for a decent salary?
(Yet during the sixties those same democrats screamed about inequities in the draft system.)
Finally, a quote:
"...it's nice to be wanted. But the people that Allenby and Hagerott want to enlist for national security are the same ones who are valued in civilian society as key drivers of economic growth."
(IIRC that's where most company grade officers, the RAF, OSS / spooks, code breakers, and assorted other heroes, came from during WW2.)
"Scooping up these innovators in the net of universal conscription would make the hard-sell of reinstating the draft even harder."
(See above regarding class warfare...the elitism of the entire article is self evident.)