Ashish Vazirani said that during fiscal year 2023, the military services collectively missed recruiting goals by about 41,000 recruits.
This system of automatic draft registration would replace the system in effect since 1980 in which young men can decide for themselves whether or not to sign up for the draft – and so many choose not to register that the Selective Service database would be useless for an actual draft.
A precursor to the return of the draft?
In the late 1960’s, a history prof (he had his Phd) said there are two easy things we should learn from the past. One…do not lose your topsoil. Two…do not have an all volunteer (professional) military. When President Nixon abolished the draft, I thought about what the prof said.
As for me, I have no regrets about using a student deferment (God Bless My 2s) to keep my backside out of a ridiculous conflict.
OK, Blacktree, I am not familiar with or even aware of the ref’d Phd and his work. Did he say why having a volunteer military was bad?
Other than the WWII crowd drafting and the military in general were never up there with Cracker Jack and Root Beer in popular American predilictions
ditto
From Wikipedia:
|Civilian deaths (North and South Vietnam)|405,000–627,000|
|Total deaths|1,353,000|
I would say we did NOT learn from the past.
Civilian death tolls from the US WOT reached similar heights:
Of course if one looks at indirect war deaths from starvation & disease etc it boggles the mind.
Then consider the havoc reeked upon the EU from refugees caused by the US WOT.
And the monsters the US allied itself with in the pursuit of victory.
The New York Times identified hundreds of civilians abducted in the largest campaign of forced disappearances of the war.
It all led back to one man.
The commander was here.
Dozens assembled in the mud square to listen as Abdul Raziq, one of America’s most important partners in the war against the Taliban, stood before the crowd, gesturing at two prisoners he had brought along to make his point.
The prisoners knelt with their hands bound as Raziq spoke to his men. A pair of his officers raised their rifles and opened fire, sending the prisoners into spasms on the reddening earth. In the silence that followed, Raziq addressed the crowd, three witnesses said.
“You will learn to respect me and reject the Taliban,” Raziq said after the killings, which took place in the winter of 2010, according to the witnesses and relatives of both men. “Because I will come back and do this again and again, and no one is going to stop me.”
For years, American military leaders lionized Raziq as a model partner in Afghanistan, their “if only” ally in the battle against the Taliban: If only everyone fought like Raziq, we might actually win this war, American commanders often said.
And how does support of such persons make the US different from the Taliban?
““OK, Blacktree, I am not familiar with or even aware of the ref’d Phd and his work. Did he say why having a volunteer military was bad?””
I don’t even remember his name, nor if he published anything. He taught at U. Massachusetts. Just something that he said, probably over a beer.
And as to why it’s a bad idea. A potential military coup would likely be near the top of that list. The number of ex-military that participated in Janaury 6th should probably not be overlooked.
An all volunteer army quickly becomes inbred, there are no “civilians”, even in the lower ranks, to keep it in check. There are few civilians who have graduated out to know whether it’s being well run or is a grease pit of corruption and incompetence. Given that the military is supposed to be subservient to civil authority it seems prudent to have some, perhaps significant, civilian presence within. The military, recall, works on strict obedience to orders not on a free flow of information and meritocracy (such as it is.) Who is the challenge them if they are wide off the beam?
I think the Jan 6 numbers would be at least the same even if we had had a draft. Military coup…? Bit of a reach. Thanks. I just thought he might have had a unique insight.
PS: I can see a possible reason for maintaining a large military probably attainable only with a draft. The threats posed by Germany before both World Wars, and earlier, Rome. Si vis pacem, para bellum and it’s equal and opposite Si vis bellum, para bellum.
I think there’s something to be said about compulsory service. It could address a few issues:
More respect for veterans. There’s a stigma in the US - joining the armed forces is for people with fewer options. That stigma may not apply to people who enlist and are on the path to becoming officers, but veterans often don’t feel respected by others who do not enlist. Thanking veterans for their service is lip service and does little to change this.
More cohesive citizenry. A lot of people who choose to enlist share common ideologies, or become influenced by the hegemony of ideology in the military. After discharge, veterans seek out veterans because it’s comfortable and familiar. If service was compulsory, the military would better reflect the diversity of thoughts and ideas in our country. This could result is a smoother transition to life after the military, with less division.
More responsible use of our military. It’s easier for politicians to send troops into conflict with a volunteer-based armed forces. Whether you agree or disagree with the Vietnam protesters, their passion was a result of the compulsory draft (among other things). A sacrifice for some does little to drive public opinion about unjust conflicts.
That said, it’s not going to happen unless TSHTF.
My grandpa and his twin brother enlisted in the navy at 16 years of age to fight in WWII. Even at that young age, they wanted to serve their country…and their parents wanted to get them out of the house. That feeling of patriotism seemed more universal back then. Sentiment has changed, that’s probably the biggest obstacle to compulsory service.
The POTUS is commander-in-chief of the military. That doesn’t eliminate the threat of a coup, but it makes it much harder.
Of course, if you have a POTUS who doesn’t believe in elections and wants to use the military to disable democracy, I could see that happening. As you point out, lots of Americans don’t like democracy.
While I want to agree with you, I don’t. It’s not that big of a reach to suggest a president would use the military for unconstitutional purposes. Maybe they wouldn’t carry out those orders, but…maybe they would.
For people who think we’ll never have a president who would even consider such a thing, we already have - “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something.”
Whoa, I didn’t say it was impossible. I just meant that just because we didn’t have a “citizen soldier” military from an ongoing draft, that alone would not lead to a situation where a coup would be easy.
Is a coup possible? Yes! There used to be a phrase in this country’s lexicon of American-isms that went: “It can’t happen here” after the title of a famous book, meaning we are immune from totalitarianism. American’s seem to think these things can’t happen because we have the right to vote. Even as a young child I could tell grown-up’s glib, perfunctory adherence to such aphorisms was BS. Whatever it is people think “can’t happen here” certainly can, given the right circumstances.
Brave New World?
1984?
It Can’t Happen Here?
Camp of the Saints?
They’re all possible. And I don’t mean barely, in some theoretical way. I mean they are lurking out there.
Thanks for the clarification. I read It Can’t Happen Here for the first time over 20 years ago, pretty good piece of fiction. I read it again in 2015, Sinclair Lewis is some kind of political Nostradamus!
The country was attacked, Pearl Harbor. People signed up after 911 as well.
911 is over.
The Irish hated the Civil War draft. Got off the boat and sent to the front lines in a country they had never seen before. The wealthy Americans paid $500 to sit out the Civil War. The Irish knew this.
About 2 hour ago, I finished reading “Becoming Madam Secretary” (a book about Frances Perkins and her drive towards social welfare and specifically creating Social Security) and Sinclair Lewis plays a starring role in the book!
Interesting article -
Service doesn’t necessarily need to be in the military, may be something to consider.
Maybe we need more people keeping us from the military providing bodies.