Quote:
Originally posted by Peaches@Apr 11 2004, 09:05 AM
Here are two reasons why I don't think the draft will be reinstated any time soon:
1) All branches are meeting their recruitment goals in record time as well as having high reinlistments. All they would have to do it lift a handful of the current restrictions and they could double the forces.
2) Historically, the draft has allowed those young men enrolled in college to get a waiver until graduation. Think of the racial demographics of those that will be left and the NAACP and Jesse Jackson will be screaming racial profiling.
I just don't see it happening, even based on #1 alone.
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Peaches, I'm not quite certain #1 is as true as recruiters might have told you. Recruiting is making goals, but my understanding is that attrition (recruits that don't complete basic) is up somewhat; reenlistments are suffering in some critical specialties, particularly the army; and if the so-called economic recovery ever actually starts seeing job creation, recruiting and retention will suffer. A lowering of standards also leads to an increase in attrition and problems in commands subsequent to the training cycle.
Regarding #2 ... One thing a college deferment would do is increase college enrollment in all demographic groups. I'm not entirely certain that the demographics would really support your stereotype that so many white students go off to college right away that an unfair burden would be placed on blacks. If the system gets set up the way it was in it's last couple of years, then I doubt the niggers will get uppity. If the system is set up in the arbitrary way it was set up before the implementation of the birthday lottery, then they would have good reason to be concerned.
I'm pretty sure there have been more than a dozen bills calling for the reintroduction of conscription since it ended. I personally would think favorably about supporting a system that required EVERYONE physically capable of going into the military, VISTA, etc., for two years. Until the Iraq war, I've questioned the need for a military draft. The way the services are stretched with <150,000 folks on duty in Iraq, I'm wondering now ... but I don't think Congress will have the balls to do it.