Military Draft

Do We Need The Draft?

We are in a time of war, just as we have been several times over the short duration of being a great country. This time we are in the Middle east, specifically Iraq, where thousands of young men and women have died defending our beliefs as a nation and protecting the rights of others in a foreign land. But what will happen if the war continues for several more years and we begin losing more and more of our sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers to death, retirement or discharge? Will there be enough volunteers to take their places? If there are not enough volunteers, our country may have to resort to the draft.

The draft was introduced in 1940 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which created the countries first peacetime draft. In 1973 the draft ended and the U.S converted to an All-American military. Even though there is no draft, yet, there is still a requirement for men who reach the age of 18 to register for selective service.

America today is worried about a military draft becoming law. Some believed that the Bush administration was preparing to reinstate the draft. There was legislation pending in the House in 2004 and 28 million dollars was added to the Selective Service System to prepare for possible conscription. If a draft does come to life, all persons, including women, will have to perform military service. One thing about the new legislation is a clause prepared for the conscientious objector, who could still be drafted, but serve in civilian service such as homeland security. (Swomley, 2004).

Lionel Waxman (2004) wrote an article explaining that a draft could be counterproductive. He claims that it would produce an inferior quality military, which I agree with. Today's military has to have more than just muscle, it has to have brains. The military is more than just soldiers carry rifles and shooting canons, it's has become technologically more advanced. As Waxman said, "Our personnel have to be better-educated, better trained and capable of operating the most advanced weaponry in the world". Some opponents of the draft claim that not everyone would be drafted equally, that the "elite" would find ways of avoided it and thus drawing on the minorities to fill the ranks. Some also feel it would prolong war because the military would have an inexhaustible supply of manpower.

In 2004, there was worry among the American people that the draft would be coming back. Stein (2004) wrote an article that claimed the draft does not have a prayer because nobody, not the president, the Pentagon and not the public want it reinstated. The chance of the draft coming back is slim. The Democrats tried scare tactics before the presidential elections by claiming that the draft was coming into effect by the Bush administration. Former U.S. senator Max Cleland said to students at a university, "You do not have the draft hanging over

your heads-not yet. But pay attention, boys and girls, to what you've got going in Iraq".

Most of the resources used for this paper were written two years ago, prior to the presidential