This nation does not need the draft

American Thinker ^ | May 21, 2016 | Michael A. Thiak

[Kaslin]

A proposal to include women in the military draft, supported in Congressional testimony by the heads of the Marine Corps and Army, was stripped from the National Defense Authorization Act by a close vote of the House Rules Committee this week. But agitation for universal military conscription will continue, sometimes from the left, so “so that Americans ‘feel the burden’ of ongoing military operations against Islamic militants, will not go away.”

After 23 years of military service, it is clear to me that a universal draft is not essential, and indeed would be harmful to our national security.

Asking everyone to serve would be a disaster. Assume you put in a draft of “every” high school graduate. Approximately 3.9 million people turn 18 each year in the United States. Say of those, 80% are “fit” for military service (i.e., meet height/weight requirements, no issue with narcotics use, no criminal issues), you are talking of induction of 3.2 million people a year. This is a World War II level of forced public service when we are not at war with major powers.

If this is a two-year draft enlistment (what was used in Vietnam, as opposed to “the duration” during WWII), the armed forces will have to in-process and train them. The Army (and the other services) don’t have the facilities to in-process that many men and women right now. Can you imagine the cost of bringing online multiple basic training posts throughout the county? Currently we induct approximately 200K a year across all four branches of service, enlisted and officers. A draft could increase this by more than a factor of 15!

[centurion316]

The second that women are required to register for the draft, the restrictions on women in the ground gaining combat arms will be back in place. What the Republicans want to do is to concede the fight and shrug their shoulders while saying that they couldn’t do anything about it, Obama just said so and that’s the end of it.

[rlmorel]

I would like to agree with you, but I just don’t think that is the case, especially with the spineless “conservatives” in government who don’t want to be painted as racist/sexist/homophobic, and that is exactly the tack taken by the Left if anyone tries to oppose it. If there is one thing I have learned, liberal policies are like a one-way ratchet, and ground lost, is rarely, if ever, recaptured.

This business of putting women on ships (even submarines) female Rangers, etc. is a done deal. We know it is Kabuki Theater for social engineering, and is designed to make our military a jobs program instead of a fighting force, and it has been going on for a while.

Ostensibly, these draft proposals are for “equal rights”, and what, I don’t see them stopping this at the draft. It is just another crowbar for the left.

[Redwood71]

Chuckster:

Would love to tell them to turn out the light when we leave, but we’ve got too many treaties and trade agreements still in place with the UN and independent countries. But if we are going to go that route, we could also demand repayment of debts from WW I &II from countries like England, France, Germany, Japan, China, and Russia. That should cover their ability to buy weapons for a while.

red

[thoughtomator]

What we need is peace. War hasn’t been helping us at all and there’s no longer any popular support for these military adventures, which creates an extremely tenuous situation. When our military goes to war it needs to have the backing of the population and it doesn’t have that anymore since these expeditions have no real connection to national security.

[Impy]

There will never be a draft again. It would be political suicide.