Is George W. Bush's War in Iraq destroying the volunteer Army? Would he pull out rather than have a draft?

Question

Can you give a historical precedent for a world power having a volunteer Army?

Answer 1

The War in Iraq is not 'destroying' the Army. The Army is still manned at the maximum level authorized by Congress (actually a little higher by not counting mobilized reserves as part of the 'end strength) and re-enlistment rates remain at all time highs.

In fact the only time morale took a hit was after the November elections. (Think about what this says about how much the troops trust the Democrats.)

And many 'world powers' have maintained volunteer Armies. Great Britain, the US throughout most of our history, the Romans, the Greeks, the Mongols - the list is endless.

Answer 2

It's destroying the volunteer military only temporarily. It will come back when the war is over.

They are already gearing up for the draft, it's been in the news a few times now, they even want to do a test run of the system "just in case" they need to start it up.

A draft would of course backfire because it will bring back the counterculture revolution of the 1960s and oh, did you know there were lots and lots and lots of riots during the 1960s? Expect some of those to come back too if we have a draft and all kinds of chaos and weirdness that smart Americans even on the left really don't want to see our country go through again. (The '60s might have been necessary, but they were also very painful for this nation.)

Of course, the same people who consider the draft as a viable option also want to start a second war with Iran and how do you think the American public is going to take that, especially when the only way it can be considered a viable plan is to also implement a draft?

The end of their reign draws closer the more they push their agenda but unfortunately a lot of people have to needlessly die first.

And to answer you second question, no I cannot cite any such precedent.

Answer 3

A draft wouldn't help.

First, Congress sets the " end strength " of the US Military, not the President.

Secondly, even if Congress increased the end strength of the military,

It would take 6 months to actually start drafting people,

But it would probally take 2 years to get enough Di's trained, Barracks built and all the other stuff necessary for a big increase in the size of the military.

Then it would take another 2 years before the new divisions would be combat ready.

People always seem to focus on how long it takes to get a Private thru boot and AIT.

They forget it takes alot longer to train the Corporals, Sgt's, Platoon leaders and Company commanders.

Not to mention training all those new members of the new divsions to actually operate as a fire team, squad, platoon, company, battalion, brigade and as a division.

Even during WW ll, when things were rushed, it took 2 1/2 years to get a division combat ready.

.
You want historical precedent, how about the United States, we haven't had a draft since 1973, over 34 years.

Answer 4

I do not think it will come to a draft unless a world power attacked us. If we were to suddenly go to war with Russia or China... or North Korea marched on us out right. But to answer the question I believe he would give up Iraq before re-applying the draft.
The best example I can give of a volunteer Army is us... when we fought England for our independence.
Volunteer's are there for the cause.

Answer 5

The Volunteer military is in basic terms wonderful. The morale is sturdy, the project is to look after u . s . a .. Bush is the most suitable brother the troops could have. that's the Reid/Pepsi Cola crowd that are disheartening to the yank protection stress. We went via the defeatists politicians in Asia to boot. The worst element you need to do to the yank combating stress is teach weak point contained in the face of the enemy. Reid killed some troops in basic terms as if he had fired the rounds, or planted the bomb. We ought to strive against without holds bared or get the hell out!! do not enable the low existence vote chasers kill any extra troops!! USMC 60-sixty 8

Answer 6

the only historical precedence that i can think of is that of EARLY rome. some of the early, highly successful, roman armies were made up of volunteer citizens - but that didn't last long after the realization came that the mainatining of the empire would require a professional army.

as to bush - it will never happen on his watch. since the war began, bush has managed to avoid making any real decisions and his current policy is to literally kick the can down the road so that someone else can make the difficult, and well, adult decisions...

Answer 7

1st, it is not George W. Bush's war. It was authorized by Congress-(yes, even Ol' Hill Baby) and it is a Police Action. It is a Police Action because we let the politicians call the shots, thus look at the BullSh** rules of engagement. If it was a war, the military would have been successfully completed long ago! Many countries have had Volunteer Military, but--ONLY the USA fights a politically correct type of engagement that is driven by the liberal left!

Answer 8

Here is how I look at it all.

George W Bush's War for OIL is killing more than the Army!
It is killing the entire United States of America!
He is emptying our treasury and borrowing huge sum's of money that will take Generations and Generations to pay back and at the same time when all of the Boomers go to retire the Social Security money that they have paid into all of these years will be gone, spent for our military to act as an unpaid militia for the Large Oil Companies while all fo the Big Business military suppliers reap the rewards and our service men and women are being killed for no other reason than greed

Answer 9

There is a greencard draft. Fast road to US citizenship or perm res. We don't need a compulsory draft. The Marine Corps is filling up with Latinos.

Answer 10

Rome
Whoever gave me the thumbs down, the post-Marius Roman Army was all volenteer. Look it up
http://www.roman-empire.net/army/army.html

Hey Mr. S I'm a Marine and I'm Italian/Irish.