Once more with extracts and commentary from the Strategic Outpost column of the Internet web site War on the Rocks. The topic in this particular instance the possible reinstatement of the military draft [conscription].
The professional all-volunteer military force of the United States now a done deal for over forty years and counting.
Conscription as was the norm for a twenty year period from Korea through Vietnam done away with and perhaps for all time?
Conscription however as a means of bolstering the American military with "warm-bodies" and "boots on the ground" not a done with forever concept?
Generally speaking military service seen as one of three most important duties of a citizen. Voting and jury duty as the other two.
"THE DEEPEST OBLIGATION OF CITIZENSHIP: LOOKING BEYOND THE WARRIOR CASTE"
By David Barno and Nora Bensahel MAY 15, 2018
"Yet the remarkable success of the all-volunteer force masks its one profound disadvantage: It has become too easy for most Americans to believe that they are no longer responsible for fighting the nation’s wars. It has unintentionally sent the message that 'someone else' will take those risks and fight those fights. Since fewer than 1 percent of the population serves in the military, and most of those who now serve are related to someone who has served, the civil-military gap has expanded into a massive chasm."
"Why is this such a serious problem?"
"First, it makes it too easy for the nation to go to war. It is much easier to decide to send someone else’s children, parents, and friends to war than to send your own."
"Second, and even more importantly, in this era of renewed great power competition, the United States may well find itself having to fight wars of greater size, scope, and casualties that require more troops than the nation can recruit voluntarily."
ANYWAY, AMERICANS AS A WHOLE DO NOT WANT A RETURN TO CONSCRIPTION AND THE DRAFT.
coolbert.
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