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There's a sign on the horizon, no bigger than a man's hand, that there's a military draft in the works. The Defense Department has announced that Selective Service is making preparations for another draft, "in case one is needed." The New York Times in an inane editorial pleads with the president to articulate a goal for the war that if it "was clear and comprehensive and people understood how to reach it, then Mr. Bush could . . . even bolster the desperately straitened military with a draft if Americans understood the need to sacrifice." If the editorial writers of...

Greatest story never toldWinslow Jr. should have apologized to Tillman at draft. Bob Frantz Special To The Examiner Published on Monday, April 26, 2004WHAT WE SHOULD have seen on Saturday: Kellen Winslow Jr. knew what he had to do. After holding up the honorary No. 1 jersey of the Cleveland Browns while posing with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Winslow took an extraordinary step. When the flash bulbs had stopped popping, Winslow leaned in and whispered into the commissioner's ear. He wanted just a moment at the microphone, to address the assembled crowd at Madison Square Garden and the millions of...

Maurice Clarett's challenge of the NFL's eligibility rule was rejected twice by the Supreme Court on Thursday, meaning the Bears won't have USC wide receiver Mike Williams to consider with their first-round draft pick Saturday. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she saw no reason to overturn a lower court's stay that prevents Clarett from being eligible for the draft because the Ohio State running back has not been out of high school three years. His second appeal to Justice John Paul Stevens also was denied. That means Williams, who has been at USC only two seasons but already holds numerous...

<p>Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday dismissed the notion of reinstating the military draft, saying that the Pentagon, if needed, can dig deeper into Reserve and National Guard forces to relieve troops deployed in the war on terrorism.</p> <p>"I don't know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstitute the draft," Mr. Rumsfeld told a Washington gathering of members of the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press.</p>

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - The Bush administration has no intention of reinstating a U.S. military draft despite increased troop deployments sparked by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday. Rumsfeld's comments came just days after a leading Republican senator said the United States should consider reinstating conscription to replace the all-volunteer military. "My answer is no," Rumsfeld told a meeting of newspaper editors and publishers when asked if he saw any prospect for a return to the draft, abolished in 1973 during the Vietnam War era. "I don't know anyone in the executive branch...

<p>Air Force officials expect to release sometime in May details of the next phase of troop cuts.</p> <p>More than 2,000 airmen left the Air Force during the first phase in February and March. But the service estimates it now needs more than 18,000 who wouldn’t be expected to leave the service to do so, if it is to get down to its legally authorized manpower level by next fall.</p>

*** VANITY post *** In regard to a U.S. military draft, there has been legislation introduced in the Congress, but it isn't going anywhere fast. The Universal National Service Act of 2003 was introduced in both the U.S. Senate (S. 89) and the House (H.R. 163) on January 7, 2003. In the Senate the bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. In the House it was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services on January 7, 2003 and then Executive comment was requested from DOD and the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on...

<p>April 21, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - A senator said yesterday that the United States might have to reinstate the military draft to cope with the shortage of soldiers in strife-torn Iraq.</p> <p>Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) told a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the burden of military service is being borne by the middle and lower-middle classes. "Why shouldn't we ask all our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel asked.</p>

A Republican U.S. senator is calling for a return of the military draft so the cost of the Iraq operation could be borne by people of all economic strata. Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said, "There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future." Hagel, a member of the committee, says all Americans should be involved in the effort. "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said,...

There's talk of reinstituting the military draft in Washington. Charles Rangel has been pushing the idea for a long time now. Rangel's push isn't tied to recruitment levels. Reports show that military recruitment isn't suffering because of the war. Rangel's problem is not how many are volunteering to serve, it's who is volunteering to serve. Rangel didn't like the fact that most of the volunteers come from lower and middle income American families. It's an interesting concept, isn't it? In effect Rangel is saying that volunteerism is OK, just so long as the right people volunteer. If the people that...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior Republican lawmaker said that deteriorating security in Iraq (news - web sites) may force the United States to reintroduce the military draft. "There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future," Senator Chuck Hagel told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq. "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."...

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader's independent presidential campaign sent an Internet "Message to America's Students" warning that a draft may take place if the war goes on. "The Pentagon is quietly recruiting new members to fill local draft boards, as the machinery for drafting a new generation of young Americans is being quietly put into place," Nader said. "Young Americans need to know that a train is coming, and it could run over their generation." Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said the warning is based on the U.S. Selective Service System's recent call for draft board volunteers, an extended U.S. military and...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior Republican lawmaker said that deteriorating security in Iraq (news - web sites) may force the United States to reintroduce the military draft. "There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future," Senator Chuck Hagel told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq. "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior Republican lawmaker said that deteriorating security in Iraq (news - web sites) may force the United States to reintroduce the military draft. "There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future," Senator Chuck Hagel told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq. "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."...

Reading biographical profiles of dead American soldiers, I am struck, always, by their ages -- 22 or 19 or 24. For most, childhood is all they get; their lives end even as their adulthood begins. Usually, they come from families of modest means, strivers looking to serve their country but also to gain technical training or college scholarships. In this group, graduates of Harvard or Yale or Duke are rare. Rare, too, are children of those policy-makers who decided this war was necessary. President Bush's twin daughters are not enrolled in ROTC. When the U.S. Senate voted to give the...

<p>Presidential candidate Ralph Nader this weekend warned his constituents that a military draft is pending, and asked younger voters to prepare.</p> <p>The independent candidate noted that the federal government is filling seats on local draft boards as preparation for a reinstatement of the draft, which was eliminated in 1973.</p>

Prominent lawmakers such as Rep. Charles Rangel of New York and others argue that our volunteer military is not representative of society, and that it offends fairness to have casualties in Iraq disproportionately drawn from members of America's less advantaged classes. A presidential election is shaping up in which two veterans of the Vietnam era have had to assert or defend their performance in that conflict - America's last draft-based war. To anyone under age 45, discussions of the draft must seem like discussions of the Great Depression seemed to their parents. The last time a young American male faced...

US Preparing for Military Draft in Spring 2005 The current agenda of the US federal government is to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism." Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills S 89 and HR 163) would time the program so the draft could begin at early as Spring 2005 --Reinstatement of the draft Dear Friends and Family, I urge you to read the article below on the current agenda of the federal government to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism." Pending...

Conscription ended in the United States in 1972, but the "Selective Service" (conscription) organization still exists. Stories of the government reviving the draft are just scary headlines on a slow news day. However, there are plans to revive conscription, but only for a select (very select) few people. Right now, there are procedures in place to conscript thousands of people in sixty health specialties (doctors, nurses, technicians). These potential conscripts are aged 20 to 44 years old. None will be sent to serve in a combat unit. These people are tagged for possible conscription in the event of a major...

Agency initiates steps for selective draft Congress shows little support for effort to draw skilled Americans By ERIC ROSENBERG SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is adamant that he will not ask Congress to authorize a draft, and officials at the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that would organize any conscription, stress that the possibility of a so-called "special skills draft" is remote. Nonetheless, the agency has begun the process of creating...