Only if absolutely necessary. It seems we have enough volunteers. In fact, with all the angst about the deficit, if anything we should be scaling back. Do we really need bases all over the world?
That is a perplexing problem. We have thousands of troops in Germany, Japan......as I said, all over the world. Maybe it is time that we cut back on being the world's police force. Those troops could go to the Middle East or help patrol our borders.
Those troops in Germany and Japan are being deployed to the middle east. They are on rotations just like all other units. You're probably right though we should not be the world police. I'm in complete agreement with you on that one. But I do believe we should have troops forward deployed as we do with those in Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Djibouti, and various other countries around the world.
Some of the troops are on 3d and 4th deployments because they chose to be. Some guys get back from one deployment and they transfer to a new unit that ends up deploying back to the middle east with in six months.
Now this is the exception and not the rule. The Marine corps had units on rotations. Some units returned from deployment and saw a huge turnover of personnel and when they would return to country about a year later 75% of the people deploying were new to the unit. I did two tours in Iraq once in 2003 and again in 2004. Both times I volunteered. The first time as a individual augment. The second time I requested to be assigned to a unit that would be deploying back to Iraq. Granted that was an easy request for my monitor to fulfill.
In my opinion the draft would be a disaster. The military does not need "bodies." They're not burning through troops at the cyclic rate.
The only unit I was in that didn't deploy for OIF/OEF and earlier Northern/Southern Watch and Bosnia before that while I was in the Air Force was in Korea where we were performing real-world missions. Uncle Sam holds no deployment prejudice based on unit geography, only readiness and rotational logistics. Any current or recent member of the military can tell you that.
Most people don't know that, nor should we expect them to. I'm just helping Jeremiah clear up any confusion.
I'm a career officer and would support the draft even though all services are meeting their recruting goals without trouble. I'd like to see a greater cross section of Americans participate in the wars/conflicts we've been engaged in since 1990. If this happened, perhaps more Americans would pay attention to what their military is really doing. The draft might also force our wars/conflicts to be pushed visibly higher up the national agenda--especially during major elections.
Jerry, I agree with your end-goal of people paying more attention to the military/having more vested interest in politics/politicians having to be personally involved, but I'm not sure taking away random young peoples' freedom and lives is necessarily an even trade. You may be able to make a better case for drafting people for non-combat roles, which would still generally suck, but seems slightly less autocratic and terrible.
Frank,
A draft would certainly bring up a lot of new subjects. Since the end of the draft, attitudes have changed.
Will we now draft women? They are already a major part of all the military, so why not? Will the draft finally end "don;t ask, don't tell"? Why would gays be exempted from a draft?
They are only two of the issues that would have to be decided.
Yes. This Country needs to prepare. For the wars of the future. Iraq poor military. Afghanistan, Al Quada and Taliban, Civilians. They are not Supported by their nations government. China,Russia, North Korea. Would be much different. Their military's are raring to go. Plus they have the numbers and the hardware. Nukes, top of the line jets, subs.. We need to prepare for them, that's why we need a draft. Now would be a good time to start.
John, those are all interesting questions. Women I imagine would still be drafted for "non-combat" roles (the only roles they can serve in at the moment I believe, correct me if I'm wrong please). As for don't ask, don't tell, it'll be a struggle between the bigotry of the nation (or, rather, some of the nation) and the perceived need for troops.
And as for Jason,
Do you have any idea how much larger and more expensive the US military is than any other country in the world? Not to mention, if there were an attack on the US from a sovereign foreign country the war would not be the US vs. X country, it would be Europe (with some exception) and the US, and most of the rest of the 1st world vs. X country.
And as for a war with China or Russia, the times have changed over the past 30 years, and there is absolutely no foreseeable conflict with either of those Nations. North Korea is more foreseeable, but we certainly would not be alone in a war with them, and it's unlikely that they'd attack the US before SK anyways.
Only if absolutely necessary.
Only if absolutely necessary. It seems we have enough volunteers. In fact, with all the angst about the deficit, if anything we should be scaling back. Do we really need bases all over the world?
Do we have enough volunteers
Do we have enough volunteers when some personnel are on third and fourth deployments?
I think a draft only makes
I think a draft only makes sense in a Democracy if it's for defense.
That is a perplexing problem.
That is a perplexing problem. We have thousands of troops in Germany, Japan......as I said, all over the world. Maybe it is time that we cut back on being the world's police force. Those troops could go to the Middle East or help patrol our borders.
Those troops in Germany and
Those troops in Germany and Japan are being deployed to the middle east. They are on rotations just like all other units. You're probably right though we should not be the world police. I'm in complete agreement with you on that one. But I do believe we should have troops forward deployed as we do with those in Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Djibouti, and various other countries around the world.
Some of the troops are on 3d and 4th deployments because they chose to be. Some guys get back from one deployment and they transfer to a new unit that ends up deploying back to the middle east with in six months.
Now this is the exception and not the rule. The Marine corps had units on rotations. Some units returned from deployment and saw a huge turnover of personnel and when they would return to country about a year later 75% of the people deploying were new to the unit. I did two tours in Iraq once in 2003 and again in 2004. Both times I volunteered. The first time as a individual augment. The second time I requested to be assigned to a unit that would be deploying back to Iraq. Granted that was an easy request for my monitor to fulfill.
In my opinion the draft would be a disaster. The military does not need "bodies." They're not burning through troops at the cyclic rate.
Janice, The only unit I was
Janice,
The only unit I was in that didn't deploy for OIF/OEF and earlier Northern/Southern Watch and Bosnia before that while I was in the Air Force was in Korea where we were performing real-world missions. Uncle Sam holds no deployment prejudice based on unit geography, only readiness and rotational logistics. Any current or recent member of the military can tell you that.
Most people don't know that, nor should we expect them to. I'm just helping Jeremiah clear up any confusion.
I'm a career officer and
I'm a career officer and would support the draft even though all services are meeting their recruting goals without trouble. I'd like to see a greater cross section of Americans participate in the wars/conflicts we've been engaged in since 1990. If this happened, perhaps more Americans would pay attention to what their military is really doing. The draft might also force our wars/conflicts to be pushed visibly higher up the national agenda--especially during major elections.
Jerry, I agree with your
Jerry, I agree with your end-goal of people paying more attention to the military/having more vested interest in politics/politicians having to be personally involved, but I'm not sure taking away random young peoples' freedom and lives is necessarily an even trade. You may be able to make a better case for drafting people for non-combat roles, which would still generally suck, but seems slightly less autocratic and terrible.
Frank, A draft would
Frank,
A draft would certainly bring up a lot of new subjects. Since the end of the draft, attitudes have changed.
Will we now draft women? They are already a major part of all the military, so why not? Will the draft finally end "don;t ask, don't tell"? Why would gays be exempted from a draft?
They are only two of the issues that would have to be decided.
Yes. This Country needs to
Yes. This Country needs to prepare. For the wars of the future. Iraq poor military. Afghanistan, Al Quada and Taliban, Civilians. They are not Supported by their nations government. China,Russia, North Korea. Would be much different. Their military's are raring to go. Plus they have the numbers and the hardware. Nukes, top of the line jets, subs.. We need to prepare for them, that's why we need a draft. Now would be a good time to start.
John, those are all
John, those are all interesting questions. Women I imagine would still be drafted for "non-combat" roles (the only roles they can serve in at the moment I believe, correct me if I'm wrong please). As for don't ask, don't tell, it'll be a struggle between the bigotry of the nation (or, rather, some of the nation) and the perceived need for troops.
And as for Jason,
Do you have any idea how much larger and more expensive the US military is than any other country in the world? Not to mention, if there were an attack on the US from a sovereign foreign country the war would not be the US vs. X country, it would be Europe (with some exception) and the US, and most of the rest of the 1st world vs. X country.
And as for a war with China or Russia, the times have changed over the past 30 years, and there is absolutely no foreseeable conflict with either of those Nations. North Korea is more foreseeable, but we certainly would not be alone in a war with them, and it's unlikely that they'd attack the US before SK anyways.