The Draft

In the city-states of ancient Greece to modern nation-states, the rights for citizenship were often linked to an obligation of some military service for all males. In the United States, military mandated conscription did not come into being until it was used by both the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. To be sure, conscription was never popular, and opposition to it was common, even during our two world wars.

In the 1960s, the draft became the focal point for opposition to the Vietnam War. After much debate, a Presidential Commission recommended ending the draft, and in 1973 the All-Volunteer Army became a reality. And yet, absent conscription, today's military has been robbed of the sense of shared sacrifice and national purpose for generations. 

One important element missing in the all-volunteer military is the opportunity for civilian conscripts and military careerists to exchange ideas in approaching solutions in solving problems. Put another way; civilian thinking merged with military thinking offers free-flowing exchanges on how to do things rather than inflexible approaches such as "high diddle-diddle, right up the middle."

America's all-volunteer military accounts for less than 0.5% of the total population and is so different from the civilian population that it has become a separate warrior class. Without this cross-fertilization, today's all-volunteer military carry a heavier burden, because the public has been disconnected from the universal responsibility and personal commitment required to fight and win wars.

When reading the following two sub-articles, consider these questions: Does having a draft make war more or less likely? Should citizenship be linked to compulsory military service? Or is the individual's right to choose paramount?

All-Volunteer Military Distinct From the Public It Protects
By Thomas E. Ricks

Since the end of the military draft in 1973, every person joining the U.S. armed forces has done so because he or she asked to be there. Over the past decade, this all-volunteer force has been put to the test and has succeeded, fighting two sustained foreign wars with troops standing up to multiple combat deployments and extreme stress.

This is precisely the reason it is time to get rid of the all-volunteer force. It has been too successful. Our relatively small and highly adept military has made it all too easy for our nation to go to war  -  and to ignore the consequences.

The drawbacks of the all-volunteer force are not military, but political and ethical. Less the one percent of the nation has carried almost all the burden of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while the rest of us essentially went shopping. When the wars turned sour, we could turn our backs.

A nation that disregards the consequences of its gravest decisions is operating in the morally hazardous territory. We invaded Iraq recklessly. If we had a draft, a retired general said to me recently; we probably would not have invaded at all.

If there had been a draft in 2001, I think we still would have gone to war in Afghanistan, which was the right thing to do. But I don't think we would have stayed there much past the middle of 2002 or handled the war so negligently for years after that.

We had a draft in the 1960s, of course, and it did not stop President Lyndon Johnson from getting into a ground war in Vietnam. But the draft sure did encourage people to pay attention to the war and decide whether they were willing to support it.

Resuming conscription is the best way to reconnect the people with the armed services. Yes, reestablishing a draft, with all its Vietnam-era connotations, would cause problems for the military, but those could never be as painful and expensive as fighting a war in Iraq for almost nine years. A draft would be good for our nation and ultimately for our military.

Thomas E. Ricks is a fellow at the Center for a New American Security and the author of "The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today." 

Return of Military Draft Not in Sight
By Rik Jesse and Tim Walters
Young men today no longer face the prospect of being called to compulsory military duty. This month marks the 40th anniversary since the draft ended, and the military became an all-volunteer force.

The switch has had both positive and negative effects on the military and the nation as a whole, depending on who you ask.

Today's fighting force is undeniably better educated and motivated than in the days when much of the enlisted ranks of the Army were filled with conscripts on two-year tours.

Nearly all of today's enlisted men and women have at least a high school diploma. Many are college graduates. There is a perception that there are fewer discipline problems than during the Vietnam War-era. The all-volunteer military has consistently demonstrated its ability from Desert Storm to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But an all-volunteer military also means that the burden of defending the nation is carried by a small fraction of Americans.

Robert Taylor, a professor of American military history and head of the Department of Humanities and Communication at Florida Institute of Technology, said the all-volunteer military has been a success, though it is "a two-sided coin."

"The downside is that the vast majority of the American people expect the small number of people to fight our wars for us," he said.

That relatively small group is carrying the weight of service in the military, which has led to multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From World War II to the final days of Vietnam, nearly every young man in the country faced the prospect of being drafted into the Army. Even major celebrities like Elvis Presley got caught up in the draft.

As time went on, more young men were able to avoid the draft by attending college or seeking other deferments.

Research published in the late 1970s showed that men from low-income or disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to fight in Vietnam than men from middle- and high-income families who could avoid being drafted by going to college or finding a slot in a stateside National Guard unit.

"The American people lost confidence in the draft as a means of raising an army when it ceased to require equal sacrifice from everyone that was eligible to serve," said Bernard Rostker, a former director of the Selective Service System and the author of "I Want You! The Evolution of the All-Volunteer Force." In which he documents how the United States military was transformed from a poorly disciplined force of conscripts and draft-motivated "volunteers" to a force of professionals revered throughout the world.

Others, though, say that compulsory military service gave valuable discipline and direction to many young men.

Retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Juan Santiago, a Vietnam War veteran, said that because many draftees didn't want to go to the war, there were problems. But having to serve was good for many of the draftees who could have ended up in trouble.

"The Army molded them to be good citizens," said Santiago, 74, of Melbourne, Fla.