Is Military Conscription a good thing?

Question

I'm doing a report for school I need details on Conscription or Compulsory drafting in the U.S.!!!

Answer 1

There are differing opinions.

People say that freedom is not free. It has also been said that we value little that for which we have to pay little. Somebody has to pay the ticket. The bill will never be paid in full. And everybody has a responsibility to contribute.

Unfortunately there seems to be a growing number of people who are spoiled, lazy, selfish, self-centered, and irresponsible enough to think that somebody has to pay their portion of the bill. This is hardly fair those who are already contributing.

A draft would put everybody who is physically able in uniform for four years of their lives. People who have been living off the work of others will be forced to meet their own responsibilities.

There are those in the military who don't trust conscripts. I've been in the military. I've fought alongside draftees and I've had them in my command. I've seen kids frozen to immobility. But, when the bullets start flying, self-preservation and their training kick in. After an encounter I've seen them look at each other with a look of amazement on their faces like, "Holy !! We did it... and it was almost textbook!!"

Sure, there are some who can't cut it. You can weed them out by observing them on a patrol or two. But they can still serve... put then at a desk job somewhere... but get them serving somehow.

There are some who don't think they would be able to take the life of another. Fine. Make them medics so they can save lives rather than take them.

You'll have those who will hide behind some deity or some church and say that's against their religion to go to war. Ok give them 10 years in the Peace Corps.... no benefits, no GI Bill, no pension... nothing... but they don't have to fight. But somebody said that they never knew of an atheist in a foxhole.

But I believe that if we want to keep America strong and free, we need to get these lazy, self-centered, spoiled, irresponsible children off their backsides and doing something

The protesters whine, "Look at Congress. They don't send their kids to fight." That's a cop out. If somebody else is lazy, spoiled, and irresponsible, does that mean that you should too?

The protesters whine, "When the enemy comes marching up my street, then I'll join." That's moronic. It takes 8 weeks of training to get a recruit to the point he or she isn't a danger to himself or others. It takes sever more months to train a recruit in a specialty. Do protesters think that the enemy will stop his march up their streets while we train a new army? To get to march up our streets, the enemy will have to have defeated our military... Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, Coast Guard, and all our reserve units, they will have disabled our missile defense, they will have even have gotten rid of our police force. Just how do these untrained protesters think they'll be able to mount a defense against that enemy? They'll be dead before they can throw the first rock.

But suppose that a draft were in place. Every man and woman between the ages of 18 and 24 had to begin a 4-year hitch in the military. Suppose that 10% of those had physical defects that disqualified them. The first draft will bring in about 25 million. After that figure 2.5 million a year.

Suppose that 90% of the drafted quit after 4 years, and the other 10% stay for 20 years. At the end of 20 years, the military would have reached a stability at about 35 million... and 20% of the civilian population will have been military trained. at the end of 40 years 40% of the civilian population will have been military trained. By the end of 80 years, almost the whole country will have military training, or will be in uniform. Ok... if the enemy can wipe out 37 million soldiers, sailors and Marines... let's see how he'll do against 200 million who are defending their own land.

The tactic is no longer fielding a hundred thousand troops on a battlefield and fighting it out with a hundred thousand of the enemy over a piece of real estate. But we can be involved in various parts of the world at the same time. With a minimal military that is generally trained for traditional combat you still need numbers... not so much as to overwhelm the enemy... but to outlast him. We are not cannon fodder. But troops need rest. That's kind of hard to come by when we have so few soldiers available. But, if we had a standing military of 10 million, we could send a million to Iraq every six months allowing the rest to come home for 2 years... unless they're needed elsewhere.

If there was ever a war with China they have a large enough population that they could almost produce soldiers as fast as they could be killed. In conventional warfare, that would be difficult to defeat. But what China lacks is the logistical capability of fielding and supplying such a large army. We do not. We can go anywhere in a matter of a few days. Our planes can be anywhere in a matter of hours.

Current warfare is more urban warfare. It's street fighting. To complicate matters, the civilian population stays put. It's difficult sometimes to tell the good guys from the bad guys. A massive assault on an enemy position is almost useless. As President Kennedy predicted, a lot of today's fighting has to be done by small teams of surgical experts. However, there is still a need for muscle... such as Fallujah. We need enough troops on the ground and lay siege to a city. Enough to surround it outside their range... isolating it.... No food... No water... No supplies. Send in the drones for surveillance. If they're fired on, level the building. If they're hit, level the block. Then send in the troops and sweep the place clear.

High-tech weapons are pretty incredible. But they're just hunks of metal without the manpower to use them... Patton said, 'Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory."

We need people. And if they refuse to accept their responsibility, then a draft is a good reminder.

Answer 2

From the standpoint of maintaining high, professional military standards conscription sucks swamp water. Some nations (the Swiss among them) still favor conscription for other reasons that have nothing to do with high military standards.

Answer 3

It was needed when military tactics called for massing of troops and equipment to face similar masses of troops and equipment on a battle field with definable front lines. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in the years between 1989 and 1991, that sort of tactic and manpower requirement is obsolete.
An additional degrading of that tactic happened during World War Two in the Pacific when General Douglas MacArthur developed the tactic of using aerial bombardment and naval gunfire to reduce the enemy forces ashore to less than fifty percent fighting effectiveness before having U.S troops move into battle against them. That tactic was repeated in the First Gulf War of 1991 by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf.
The war we are in right now involves the use of small troop units going into a piece of real estate, kicking in the door, and shooting people in the head. There are no front lines. There are no masses of troops on either side.

Answer 4

It's certainly not good for the gene pool of a culture. The whole (hidden) purpose of a volunteer army is to protect the future doctors, lawyers, scientists, artists, etc. from a hail of bullets. It creates political stability in this way.

Answer 5

i was in the marines 1966-1972,combat duty in vietnam,yes, the corps also drafted,it was much tougher in those days of both, the draft and corporal punishment-yes, beating were allowed as a way of life.today's military just doesn't want to raise all of these street brats anf gangs, just because america's culture has outlawed the correct procedures to raising them in the first place

Answer 6

The military doesn't want it. From what I understand, it's easier to order volunteers then draftees.

Answer 7

Nope, don't want anybody backing me up who really doesn't want to be there....

Answer 8

No