The Draft

Talk of the viability of a draft simply won't fade away. Despite the Bush administration's absolute denials that a draft is the way to solve manpower shortages, knowledgable people on both sides of the issue continue to discuss the merits of a draft. Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris weigh in with their article "The Case for the Draft" in the latest Washington Monthly. They go beyond simply discussing the pros and cons of the traditional draft, to a novel proposal of their own that goes beyond pure military service to a more general "national service" requirement, a compenant of which would be military service:

A better solution would fix the weaknesses of the all-volunteer force without undermining its strengths. Here's how such a plan might work. Instead of a lottery, the federal government would impose a requirement that no four-year college or university be allowed to accept a student, male or female, unless and until that student had completed a 12-month to two-year term of service. Unlike an old-fashioned draft, this 21st-century service requirement would provide a vital element of personal choice. Students could choose to fulfill their obligations in any of three ways: in national service programs like AmeriCorps (tutoring disadvantaged children), in homeland security assignments (guarding ports), or in the military. Those who chose the latter could serve as military police officers, truck drivers, or other non-combat specialists requiring only modest levels of training. (It should be noted that the Army currently offers two-year enlistments for all of these jobs, as well as for the infantry.) They would be deployed as needed for peacekeeping or nation-building missions. They would serve for 12-months to two years, with modest follow-on reserve obligations.

They clearly come down in favor of such a draft, listing the benefits it would provide:

A 21st-century draft like this would create a cascading series of benefits for society. It would instill a new ethic of service in that sector of society, the college-bound, most likely to reap the fruits of American prosperity. It would mobilize an army of young people for vital domestic missions, such as helping a growing population of seniors who want to avoid nursing homes but need help with simple daily tasks like grocery shopping. It would give more of America's elite an experience of the military. Above all, it would provide the all-important surge capacity now missing from our force structure, insuring that the military would never again lack for manpower. And it would do all this without requiring any American to carry a gun who did not choose to do so.

The idea of compulsory national service may seem objectionable to some. I favor it, for a variety of reasons. For one, I believe that it should be politically difficult to go to war. I believe that war is generally immoral, and should only be conducted for humanitarian reasons or for clear reasons of national security or national defense. But to ensure that war be a decision of last resort, it must require some sacrifice on the part of many, if not most, Americans. Right now, it simply does not. Most people do not know a soldier serving in Iraq, let alone someone who has actually been wounded or died there. The war is fought with only a vague idea of the cost, as most of us are asked neither to pay for it now nor to fight in it, and the faces of the dead we see on TV are mostly unknown to us. The idea that many, many more of us will either know someone who must go to war, or face the war ourselves, makes it much more difficult for politicians to persuade us to fight wars based on flimsy rationales, or for anything less then a compelling reason. Second, I believe that some sort of national service should be the flip-side to our birthright of citizenship. Too many Americans grow up learning their rights; too few grow up learning their responsibilities, and what they owe to this country for what it has given them. Service to our country, service that is expected of us, demanded of us, and not excused from us, would go along way towards teaching us to appreciate our nation and our system of government beyond the indifference or uninformed cynicism that many Americans seem to feel today. And lastly, I agree with Carter and Glastris that a more effective system of providing for our military manpower needs is the only way we can protect our role as the world's greatest power. Despite the ineptness of the people currently running our nation, I believe in this country as a potential source of great good in the world; such good as cannot be delivered to the world if we occupy a status a second-rate power.

Will we see a draft anytime soon? Certainly not. The Bush administration has made it clear that they will keep up the appearances of asking nothing of us, so as to allow them the freedom to impose their agenda seemingly without cost. But we shouldn't wait for politicians to ask us to do what is right for our nation. We should ask it of ourselves.