I heard on Tom Leykis (Very Entertaining Radio Guy ) that the Draft may be coming back a revised version of it which will draft 18-34 year old males and females from Rich or Poor backgrounds. He said right now that two congressman strongly support passing of the Bill. What do you guys think of it? And what do you guys think on the chances of this bill ever becoming a law?

 

It will NEVER happen.

 

In my area of the country, voluntary enlistment is at a supposedly all time high.

 

i have to say that i highly respect those who enlist or volunteer for our armed forces - but it would seem that a significant number are from the south/midwest as opposed to the coastal states. any reasons why?

 

Notice that no matter how much these fools try to use the concept of "we all are subject, rich or poor," they are too old to get drafted? And why is mandatory service preferable again? The military doesn't want it, and all during the cold war, the Soviet military used it, and according to people who make thier living watching and analyzing such things, people who are doing a job under duress do so with much a lower performance level. IOW, draft = bad army = more dead soldiers = decreased military competence = trouble for American citizens.

IMHO, not a chance in hell of re-instating the draft. The idiots who are pushing this are not doing so to better the US military, they just want their idea of fairness to be forced on the youth of the nation - not them.

Anyway, the only times we need a draft are when there is a massive military effort requiring a huge number of soldiers, and the Iraq war, despite it being important, is not on the scale of the Viet Nam war or WW 1 or 2. It hardly demands a draft, and if we ever get involved in a conflict like WW1 or 2, I would favor it, but most of the US conflicts now are steps to prevent that level of conflict.

Don't re-elect these fools that are pushing this, please.

 

Only if there was a shortage of military.

 

I'm in the Air Force and the shop I work in at tne moment is chock full of folks from Cali and PA. Being from Texas, it has taken considerable energy/patience to create a "happy workplace". Most are good folk tho...they just talk funny.

And as far as the draft goes, I don't think it will happen in any foreseeable future. I don't know about the other services but the AF is cutting just over 16k active duty folks over the next few years. So talk about the draft doesn't make much sense to me.

 

A draft is far far away. Its just always been around, and I belive Democrat Charlie Rangal is the one whos pushing for it anyway not the Bush administration.

As far as why the goverment is considering a draft, here are a few facts.

*the XVIII Airborne Corps forms the major part of the US's combat units that are equiped and trained for rapid deployment and sustained combat. Nearly every single unit is on their 2nd or more combat tour. Some are preparing for their 5th.

*An all volunteer Army takes years to recruit and millions of dollars to retain

*The military has been down sized to save money by cutting out as many as 10 divisions in the last 20 years (140,000 soldiers)

*total number of US soldiers in Iraq at their peak 153,000

*total number of US soldiers in Afghanistan at their peak, 15,000

*total number of active duty soldiers in the Army 450,000

*total number of fronts the US is actively conducting combat operations: 4 (Afghanistan, Iraq, the Phillipines, the West Horn of Africa)

*Total number of peace keeping operations and stability operations: 4 (Bosnia, Kosovo, Korea, the Sinia (sp))

*Total number of combat brigades 33, total number deployed or non-deployable due to returning from combat....28

*Turn around time for a brigade to refit, reman, and retrain: 6 months

*Total number of soldiers that must be recruited by 2005 that are above and beyond normal quotas set forth by the goverment due to extended combat: 40,000

*liklyhood this will happen: 0%

The US goverment made a major mistake by down sizing TOO much. They will never be able to meet the demands placed on the military unless they spend BILLIONS on recruiting and retention for an all volunteer army or they must reinstate the draft.

How the draft works

*The US calls upon the reserves first

*The US federalizes the national guard

*The US calls for volunteers

*The US reactivates the inactive reserves (every soldier enlist for 8 years of TOTAL service. in other words if you enlist for 4 years, once those four years are up you are discharged from active duty, then you are obligated to serve for another 4 years on the inactive reserves)

*The US begins to draft civilians

Basically it will be awhile for the Draft to happen. It might take a War with Iran and another minor conflict.

 

Silverknight hit the nail on the head. But to add to that, the recruiting efforts have exceeded what we planned for. I have had to turn away fully qualified people due to category restrictions. (i.e. no GED positions available May-September)

 

We don't need a draft we most of the people who are allready in the service to actually work. Some of the people in my unit work less than 5 hours a day and that time could be spent doing something constructive to the war effort.