HomeSpun Bloggers Symposium XII

As a member of the HomeSpun Blogger network of writers, here's Week 12's topic.

During last year's presidential election, some people began talking about reinstating the draft. Most conservatives, such as myself, simply saw it as an effort on the part of liberals to distance young people from Bush. Many conservatives have responded to the issue by insisting that there won't be a draft. Yet, I think another question deserves consideration. Do we have the right to insist and expect that the war against terror will not require a draft? The draft was an important element in the winning of the first two World Wars. The war on terror is another global war. What gives our generation the right to expect to abstain from the same duty our grandfathers and forefathers were called to?

Ooh! I like this topic and believe it or not, I've got an opinion on it!

Do we have the right to insist and expect that the war against terror will not require a draft?

No, I don't believe that we have the right, as citizens to have any expectation or guarranty of freedom against a draft in this country as we continue to fulfill the promise the United States made to the world when President Bush told the American people upon commencement of hostilities against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in October 2001:

"We will not waver, we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail."

For the time being, the all-volunteer military is meeting the needs it was intended to. While it's true that the National Guard and Reserves are having difficulty, I believe that is due to another problem. As far as the Army and Marines coming up short in recruiting in recent months and the Air Force and Navy having recruiting surpluses this is quite telling. We are indeed in the middle of a war AND the nation's youth have finally realized it too.

In order to keep the military capable of performing the expected and anticipated missions, the ranks must remained filled to a suitable level. If young men and young women are not volunteering to fill these ranks, perhaps we need to tap the men and women at the Selective Service System and get them moving on putting the plan into action. However, we have a problem Houston...young women within the draft age windows are not currently registered!!!

We will have to address this issue before moving forward with any kind of draft resurection. Will Americans support drafting their young women to fill gaps in the volunteer force?

The second part of the question is:

What gives our generation the right to expect to abstain from the same duty our grandfathers and forefathers were called to?

At nearly 43, I'm not sure that I necessarily have a dog in this fight. If they get to the point where they're pulling me into the active force, you might want to wonder where this is all going.

As far as those members of Generation X and Generation Y that are squarely in the sights of any moves by the Selective Service System, I'm uncertain. I believe that there should be much more patriotic and civic duties performed by children/young adults today. I see a large majority of these generations (and my own as well) being very self absorbed and interested in personal gain rather than any collective progress to be made by our society. I wish that there were some way for ALL American "kids" to serve at either at the local, state or federal and military service level before continuing any education past high school. This interim period could be used to help break the apron strings, get used to doing things like paying bills, being responsible for getting themselves up and off to work on time, and introducing them to the reality of the world where all the self-esteem oriented programs they've left behind in academia simply don't exist anymore. Upon a success 2-4 year period performing civic duties, then they would be "eligible" to enter their undergraduate studies program.

But back to the question of the draft...I believe that our nation has done the right thing by establishing an all volunteer force, but if the current trends continue I believe that we'll have to resort to some sort of draft to fill gaps in recruiting. Freedom isn't free...and if there aren't people willing to pay the price, we'll have to draft some that will.

The future of the National Guard and Reserve seem to be in limbo to me. If this force is unwilling to deploy to fight and win our nation's wars (like it says in their mission statements) perhaps we need to consider dropping them from the force...and simply plus up the active components of our military. I completely understand the issues the Guard and Reserves are going through...it's been a long time since this component's been called up and expected to serve as long as they have and in active combat theaters like they have. We've experienced a significant paradigm shift over the past four years...and one that isn't likely to shift back to the "good old days" any time soon.

Any draft we impliment will have to have clear cut timelines and "exit strategies" associated with it. Once the threat is reduced to a level that is manageable by an all volunteer force again, we should move back to it quickly.

On the other hand, I think that children of privilege quite often shirk their civic duties and responsibilities. Maybe a draft is something that could level the playing field between the "haves" and "have nots."

See y'all on the high ground!

MajorDad1984