The Return of the Draft

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/6862691?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1106977243601&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

With the army desperate for recruits, should college students be packing their bags for Canada?

By TIM DICKINSON


Uncle Sam wants you. He needs you. He'll bribe you to sign up. He'll strong-arm you to re-enlist. And if that's not enough, he's got a plan to draft you.

In the three decades since the Vietnam War, the "all-volunteer Army" has become a bedrock principle of the American military. "It's a magnificent force," Vice President Dick Cheney declared during the election campaign last fall, "because those serving are ones who signed up to serve." But with the Army and Marines perilously overextended by the war in Iraq, that volunteer foundation is starting to crack. The "weekend warriors" of the Army Reserve and the National Guard now make up almost half the fighting force on the front lines, and young officers in the Reserve are retiring in droves. The Pentagon, which can barely attract enough recruits to maintain current troop levels, has involuntarily extended the enlistments of as many as 100,000 soldiers. Desperate for troops, the Army has lowered its standards to let in twenty-five percent more high school dropouts, and the Marines are now offering as much as $30,000 to anyone who re-enlists.

...

Charlie Moskos, a professor of military sociology at Northwestern University, says the volunteer system also limits the political fallout of unpopular wars. "Without a draft, there's really no antiwar movement," Moskos says. Nearly sixty percent of Americans believe the war in Iraq was a mistake, he notes, but they have no immediate self-interest in taking to the streets because "we're willing to pay people to die for us. It doesn't reflect very well on the character of our society."

Even military recruiters agree that the only way to persuade average Americans to make long-term sacrifices in war is for the children of the elite to put their lives on the line. In a recent meeting with military recruiters, Moskos discussed the crisis in enlistment. "I asked them would they prefer to have their advertising budget tripled or have Jenna Bush join the Army," he says. "They unanimously chose the Jenna option."

should not be above being drafted also.

Literallly.

Ain't NO WAY every young person in this country is going to sacrifice his or her life, fight and die just so those fucking assholes Bush and Cheney can achieve what ever sick, twisted delusions of fame and power they are seeking. They will incite a major uprising of civil unrest that will make the 60s look like a walk in the park.

Let Bush and Cheney burn in the deepest bowels of Hell. As a matter of fact, the Bush Administration, the Bush Family, The NeoCons and the entire Republican Family can all burn in Hell. They are Monsters.

out of service or at least combat! If the economy tanks much more they'll have a draft of the unemployed. The "golden boys" will all get some cushy officer gig and it'll look good when they run for office in twenty years.

OMYGAWDTHEYATTACKEDUSAGAINTHISTIMEIT'SDALLOUTWARIT'SYOURDUTYTOREPORTWHENCALLEDUPONTOLETFREEDOMREIGNGODBLESSAMERICA......