[Irene Adler]

I would actually favor a return to a ONE-YEAR (only) draft of young men following high school (and at the same age for non-high-school graduates) with some kind of reserve duty (or at least being subject to reserve duty) following for a reasonable period. It would provide a year of growth of maturity away from home for young men before college or job plus experience with firearms for some who would not otherwise acquire any which might increase respect for the Second Amendment.

Too many men in this country have already come of age with no experience of military service which leaves some with a lack of respect for military service, or understanding of the necessity for a strong military. Look at Congress, not to mention Clinton.

I understand the libertarian objection to enforced military service, but I think the experience does a lot for most young men who go through it.

However, the idea of drafting women is just insane; no military on earth needs that many women.

[optimistically_conservative]

There was a time when military service was seen as a civic duty. We have other civic duties, i.e., jury duty.

Personally, I wouldn't object to a draft, two years, and use the additional forces on our border for the extent of the "war on terrorism," "war on drugs," and the numerous other operations other than war that we perform now.

I'd also re-establish a stronger foreign Peace Corps for the ones that fail out of basic or are otherwise deemed undesirable for military service. They would go to Afganistan, Bosnia, Kosova, Haiti, Africa, etc.

The only problem with the draft is making sure that influence peddling and undeserved exemptions don't corrupt the system. Consider how corrupt our systems are, and the low civic responsibility in the public, that may be the most difficult aspect.

[mrfixit514]

As a high school teacher I can tell you that trying to force some of these losers to bring a pencil and book to class and keep their head up off the desk is almost impossible. We don't need them screwing up our military.