[GingisK]

Back in 1971 a crusty Army First Sargent told us ROTC cadets that eliminating the draft marked the beginning of the end of a decent army. Recruitment of officers would slack off because none would be signing on for that except for the resistance of avoiding being drafted as a grunt. Then the grunts would consist of men who might not be suitable for regular society. The overall quality of the people would suffer.

He was a smart man. We were at IGMR at the time.

[pepsionice]

I came along 1977 and generally saw mostly a success story with the volunteer deal. I could see the pluses and minuses via the officer and enlisted angles. I’d readily agree that a quarter of the officers were not that capable, but about every decade...they had some overage of people and purged them out.

Presently, I live in Germany, and the volunteer thing is in serious jeopardy. They are bending over backwards....doing a lot of things that you wouldn’t see in the US situation. It’s not helping. Even the Germans are bringing up the draft idea again. Within the public, I doubt if more than 30-percent would support this.