Posted on 08/10/2007 4:12:40 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday. "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
"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," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.
President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.
The repeated deployments affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military, Lute said.
"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all- volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."
The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re- established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.
Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington. Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.
A lousy idea. Barring a national emergency far greater than the one we’re in, a draft is incompatable with a free society.
Also, it’s no secret that the overwhelming majority of the officer corps believes this about enlisted men- if they don’t want to be here, we don’t want them here!
On NPR... hmmm...
Didn’t we have around 18 Army divisions less than 20 years ago, with an all-volunteer force? I would think there are ways to increase recruitment without resorting to the draft, which has a number of problems.......
This General’s a liberal darling...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501612.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3176644&page=1
No wonder he’s giving interviews to NPR.
“There’s both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families,” he said. “And ultimately, the health of the all- volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions.”
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The General makes a good point here,,,and,,,It was posted on FR that enlistees are being given larger bonuses because
the Army has missed it’s monthly quotas for the last three months or so,,,
Frankly, I’ve yet to see a good recruitment campaign that actually tells young men that we are at war and that their country needs them. That would be a good start.
On the other hand, wars are hard on the military. The fact that fighting this war puts stress on the services shouldn’t be a surprise or a call for alarm. War is different than peace and rotations are what they are. What was the ‘rotation’ or tour in WW II? There wasn’t one except for Army aircrew and that was set to be longer than the statistical chances of survival.
Bush has repeatedly said he’s against a draft for a variety of reasons. Sure the option is on the table. But asymmetrical warfare doesn’t require massive numbers of troops and hardware like the wars of the 20th century. And this General resisted the surge so I find it strange that he’d seriously push for a draft now. More than likely it was something that NPR wanted to talk about to...um, stir up the masses with an election coming up.
You make some excellent points about recruitment honesty as well as difficult rotation schedules.
My son is a Marine. I believe, and so does he, that he will be deployed to the M.E. I do not want some saggy pants ears pierced joke from some inner city hood to have my son’s back. My son has advised me that he and those he serves with feel the same way. They’re there because they signed on the dotted line.
In regards to a draft?
Well we all know in this day of equal rights, females would have to be included in any draft, just to make it fair and equitable for all.
There is no way in this day and age they could just draft males.
Here’s to you, familyop, a determined trooper I must say! We should hoist a few at one of those joints outside the gate in Waynseville.
One of my nephews graduated from basic at FLW last spring and is now in Arabic language training, following his two brothers who did the same before him. Photos of the event bear no resemblance to my experience there 46 years ago when the barracks were WWII vintage.
Does America Need A Foreign Legion? ............ Did it work well with 300AD Rome? Did it work well with France in Algeria? You have to be very carefull with Foreign Legions. Units fight each other too, like in Afrika 1942.
The way Selective Service is set up right now, only males will be drafted. http://www.sss.gov/WHHAP.HTM
C-1-3 Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, 1978.
No way.
Add incentives, bonuses, or whatever to encourage more enlistment, but bringing back the draft is a bad idea.
We fight wars better when the men are motivated. A draft just doesn't provide motivated men.
The Democrats are the ones who proposed the draft--and it went down in flames.
This general ought to keep his pie-hole shut.
Here’s to you as well, CHEERS!
The volunteer force has made it too easy for W to not "win."
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