[July 17, 2024] I’ve heard this question repeatedly asked since I voluntarily joined the U.S. Army in 1974. Should there be a military draft in the U.S.? I don’t think this is the right question because we must first understand why any nation needs a draft.
The reason for a military draft is to ensure there are sufficient people in uniform to fulfill their military’s duty to protect that nation. The role of a military is to “protect against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Short of using the military against that nation’s citizens, this is a difficult task and comes with great responsibility to figure out how many people are needed.
Yet, we continue to hear, “Should there be a military draft?” This question is often raised more as a statement. The underlying issue is not national defense but using the military to instill personal discipline. Should we have a draft to “teach some discipline” to our youth? Our political leaders in the U.S. have answered the question, and the answer is “no.”
The U.S. all-volunteer force has successfully recruited and trained the best military America has ever fielded. On average, the Soldier or Marine or Airman or Sailor is better today because they have better equipment, training, healthcare, pay and benefits, academic ability, and are better led than ever. Of course, that is a biased comparison because nearly every available man and woman will be part of the military during a major war.
However, recruiting has crashed today, and we don’t have enough people joining the military. I pointed this out in a recent article quoting historian Dr. Victor Davis Hanson in a video he made titled “The Sorry State of the American Military.” Is the answer to reinstitute the draft?
Our political leaders must decide the answer to that question with recommendations of senior military leaders. I believe that the reason why there is a recruiting shortage in the U.S. Army is because of the “woke” policies of the Secretary of the Army, Hon. Christine Wormuth. Americans are waking up to the destruction of once-reliable American institutions like our military, and they don’t like what they see.
To answer the question whether we should reinstitute the draft at this time, I believe the answer remains “no.”
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NOTE: See “A Failure of the U.S. Secret Service” https://www.theleadermaker.com/a-failure-of-the-u-s-secret-service/, where the USSS failed because Joe Biden put a DEI-hire as the Director of the USSS, Kim Cheatle. Her priority was getting up to 30% of women in positions. That should not be her priority. Her priority is to protect the President and those he believes are at risk.
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Yep, go for it. I’d like for it to be re-introduced but it won’t be because the draft hits women hardest, and that is PURE discrimination! NOT!
INTERESTING. Yes, I think we should at least discuss the possibility and why we would need to reinstitute the draft. To me, this question comes and goes depending upon what is happening in the world. And, it must be recognized that you cannot take a 18 year old and send him into battle after a few days. It takes years to make a good Soldier.
Army Captain. Excellent comment 👌
Today, now exceeding 50 years with an all-volunteer force, the important question is: “How has the move to manning the military without relying on conscription fared?” The short answer: Quite well.
Problems maintaining the post–World War II draft came to a head in the late 1960s with an unpopular war in Vietnam and the way the draft was implemented. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-GA, then-chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s manpower and personnel subcommittee, captured the mood of the country when he told Congress, “The all-volunteer force is to a large extent a political child of the draft card burning, campus riots, and violent protest demonstrations of the late 1960s and early 1970s.” Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon also argued that the draft was “a system of compulsory service that arbitrarily selects some and not others [and] simply cannot be squared with our whole concept of liberty, justice, and equality under the law.…The only way to stop the inequities is to stop using the system.” – Rand Corp article, 31 Jan 2023
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/01/50-years-without-the-draft-behind-the-bold-move-that.html
Good find, Jonnie. Always looking for a different perspective. A ‘conversation’ is needed.
We need to rethink future warfare before we use the knee jerk reaction of instituting a draft into the old system of large armies and an invading horde enemy. The face of warfare is changing.
Here is another perspective, “Why Bringing Back the Draft Could Stop America’s Forever Wars”
https://time.com/5696950/bring-back-the-draft/
“Currently we live in a highly militarized society but one which most of us largely perceive to be “at peace.” This is one of the great counterintuitive realities of the draft. A draft doesn’t increase our militarization. It decreases it. A draft places militarism on a leash.” The author of this article is a liberal but his points should be considered.
Gen. Satterfield, this question will never go away. Americans are torn between having a strong, reliable, capable military and no military at all. This is part of our culture. However, that said, Americans want their men to be also strong, reliable, capable and the military does a good job of teaching them those useful characteristics (I say that knowing we have a “woke” military today). The tension between having and not having a draft will remain in our minds and debated well into the future, and will be so until we find another way to push men into accepting the fact they must be strong, reliable, and capable.
Good point you’re making Willie, and note the article that Bernie referenced above. I do believe the very fact that we are discussing the feasibility from a social standpoint is a good thing. We don’t have to be on the same sheet of music to come to an understanding, but I agree with Gen. Satterfield that a military draft is not needed, at least at this time.
Good points Willie and Mother P.
I concur with Gen. Satterfield also. A draft is likely need ONLY when a major war looms or is in progress. Just look at America’s history of drafts.
JT
I too concur with Gen Satterfield
The answer is NO but many will never give it up because of the side benefits of making our men better, less sissy, and more understanding of their obligations and need to be patriots. 🇺🇸
The draft’s resurgence into the national conversation in the United States and elsewhere marks a reversal of a decades-old trend.