do you think we would have gone to war and would still be at war if we had a draft ?

Question

alot of peolpe throw out talkng point about why we should be at war would it be diff if they and their family actually had to go and rick their lives. should we bring back he draft to avoid these mistakes in the future.

Answer 1

I understand the point you're making, I've said the same myself.

In an all volunteer military you don't have a cross section of the American population, you have the lower economic classes, while the people making the laws and decisions that send our young men and women off to fight are mostly from the upper economic class.

Would it make a difference if our President and every state representative had a son, daughter, brother, sister, wife or other relative or loved one in the line of fire? I can't answer that for sure, but I CAN guarantee that lots of people from every class in this country would think harder before they speak.

I honestly don't think we'd ever invoke the draft during peace time in this country, it wouldnt' make financial sense, especially when the military is still being drawn-down. (Can you believe they are STILL reducing funding while fewer and fewer men and women are going through rotations to war zones over and over?)

It's always been true that "When old men argue, young men die."; now it also seems to be true that "When rich men argue, poor men (and women) die."

I think you make an excellent point.

Answer 2

You might want to read what a draft actually is.

A draft doesn't increase the size of the military.

Only Congress sets the end strength of the military.

A draft is just used to make sure that the recruiting goals are met after all the volunteers.

Even during Vietnam, only 10% of the eligible men were actually drafted.

And after 1968, that number was even lower.

If you want more soldiers in the military, then thats up to congress to increase the end strength of the military.

The US Army had 420,000 more soldiers in 1994 than it does today, all without a draft.

People seem to think a draft means all males of a certain age have to go into the military, thats just not true.

That is conscription, something America has never had.

Not even during WW ll, did we have conscription.

Answer 3

Aside from the troops serving in Iraq, Americans have not had to make any sacrifices due to the war. A draft would bring home the reality of the war to everybody, so it's very conceivable that the Iraq war might never have happened. On the other hand, Americans were pretty brain-washed by all the hyper-patriotic rhetoric that the Bushies were spewing, so it might not have made a difference.

Answer 4

The draft is generally instituted /after/ a war is entered, not before, so that's an unlikely supposition. We do currently have an all volunteer (or 'professional') military, and there's little pressure from within the military to institute the draft. The current philosophy is that conscripts are not as desireable as proffessional soldiers or volunteers and reservists.

Answer 5

How would we have done in WW11 without the draft? And any other war we were involved in for that matter! The reason you don,t see the draft now is because the upper echelon in society would not tolerate it ,because their sons and daughters may be asked to die.. A Former Draftee

Answer 6

Yes, but the Draft would be Great.
The Military is AGAINST the Draft, because the want the BEST, like they get now. They don't want a bunch of scum being drafted.

But I want a Draft, Because hundreds of thousands of Draft-Dodging Democrats will run off to Canada, just like during Nam.
Many are still in Canada drawing Welfare.
Cooll!!!!!!!!
(Here's what's Ironic........ Canada was settled by Liberal Tory Traitors that Betrayed our Colonists, and ran off to Canada to Hide.)
They were just like Draft-Dodging Coward Bill Clinton.

Answer 7

might be it would be over by now.

then we'd have been able to put 500,000 pairs of boots on the ground [as we could back in Vietnam days].


But no -- President Bush had to take action with the military his predecessor had bequeathed him, didn't he? [He couldn't very well increase the military by 200,000 trained soldiers in the few months he'd been in office by 9/11, now could he?]

So if the military wasn't large enough, how did it get to be so small?

The alternative is that we could intentionally reduce the size of the military in order to prevent any foreign 'adventurism' by any President at all.

Unfortunately, then every tin pot dictator would know that Americans could be pushed around endlessly -- because we'd have no ability to take military action.

Let's ask the leftists if they'd think such a scenario desirable, shall we?

Answer 8

I think that if the President was able to conduct the war the way wars should and need to be conducted, it would have been over a long time ago. Unfortunately, he has to worry about the libs who think these terrorist murderers, like Saddam, are just misunderstood and had a bad childhood and we just tell them that we care and give them a big hug, they'd be fine.

Answer 9

Do you honestly think they would go? They would get deferments. A draft would have made no difference and may have actually made it worse.