Rolling Stone: The Return of the Draft

[kuozzman]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/6862691?rnd=1107204673514&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

Uncle Sam wants you. He needs you. He'll bribe you to sign up. He'll strong-arm you to re-enlist. And if that's not enough, he's got a plan to draft you.

In the three decades since the Vietnam War, the "all-volunteer Army" has become a bedrock principle of the American military. "It's a magnificent force," Vice President Dick Cheney declared during the election campaign last fall, "because those serving are ones who signed up to serve." But with the Army and Marines perilously overextended by the war in Iraq, that volunteer foundation is starting to crack. The "weekend warriors" of the Army Reserve and the National Guard now make up almost half the fighting force on the front lines, and young officers in the Reserve are retiring in droves. The Pentagon, which can barely attract enough recruits to maintain current troop levels, has involuntarily extended the enlistments of as many as 100,000 soldiers. Desperate for troops, the Army has lowered its standards to let in twenty-five percent more high school dropouts, and the Marines are now offering as much as $30,000 to anyone who re-enlists. To understand the scope of the crisis, consider this: The United States is pouring nearly as much money into incentives for new recruits -- almost $300 million -- as it is into international tsunami relief.

"The Army's maxed out here," says retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, who served as Air Force chief of staff under the first President Bush. "The Defense Department and the president seem to be still operating off the rosy scenario that this will be over soon, that this pain is temporary and therefore we'll just grit our teeth, hunker down and get out on the other side of this. That's a bad assumption." The Bush administration has sworn up and down that it will never reinstate a draft. During the campaign last year, the president dismissed the idea as nothing more than "rumors on the Internets" and declared, "We're not going to have a draft -- period." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in an Op-Ed blaming "conspiracy mongers" for "attempting to scare and mislead young Americans," insisted that "the idea of reinstating the draft has never been debated, endorsed, discussed, theorized, pondered or even whispered by anyone in the Bush administration."

[ThorsHammer]

1. Does anyone know the proposed age cutoffs?

I think I would just miss it under the old guidelines, but would be well within the rumored new cutoff of 25. FWIW, I'd have no problem serving to actually defend the country, but I want no be part of an endless, guerilla war.

[Warpy]

2. It will be a "special skills" draft

but of course those "special skills" will not be clearly defined. With such a draft, I doubt there will be an age cutoff, although there may be exemptions for health (but don't count on it).

If Stupid wants another war, he'll get you.

[ThorsHammer]

3. Damn, that's what I thought/feared

I'm sure there will be the loopholes put in to get the connected folks out, while still keeping it broad enough to get enough people. I still can't figure out why they'd want another war, given the lives lost, cost, and difficulty of this one.

[texastoast]

6. They can't get elected without a war going on

Without the war to focus on, Americans would turn their eyes to the deficit, health care, corporate whoring, etc. Americans proved themselves scared to change horses in mid-war. About 2006 we will hear more about Iran.

If we are going to war, why can't we go after "commie China"? Ooops, that's right, they make many of our wartime supplies at a very low cost to help out the military industrial complex's profits.

[KissMeKate]

7. 42 for medical, I heard

eom

[paineinthearse]

4. For the 1002nd time

Apply to the selective service to be a member of your local draft board.

http://www4.sss.gov/localboardmembers/bminquiry.asp

[kuozzman]

5. Thanks.