no jobs, war, voluntary army?

[whattheidonot]

There are not a lot of jobs, the government publicizes war all the the time and the army is voluntary and hiring. Should a democracy ,particularly one with wide global interest have a volunteer army? A drafted army means the sons of people in power might get killed or sent off too some little understood war. a drafted army creates more scrutiny, more accountability, less blanket support of the support our troops slogan. We all support the troops, they are doing their job. That does not mean we have to be taken in by this to the point of no investigation.

[endless october]

1. no draft.

a lot of people worked hard to get rid of it.

don't bring it back.

[elocs]

2. A drafted army would mean hundreds of thousands of troops available for combat

since females would now be required to be conscripted if there were a draft. At one point in Vietnam we had 500,000 troops there. Could you imagine what a president like Bush could have done if he had that many troops at his disposal?

Anyone who chooses to join the service now, who volunteers, must know that unless they possess some great skill that they will likely be sent into combat. If you choose to become a cop you have to know that at some point you might be faced with having to shoot someone, maybe even a kid, but you did make a choice to become a cop.

The rich will always have a vocational advantage over poor and less advantaged in this country. They will never have to go and work down a coal mine or labor in the farm fields. That's simply a part of life that is not easily changed.

When countries have large standing armies, they use them. If they know they can get large numbers of troops in a draft they will find the occasion to get them. We don't need to be involved in wars all over the globe, 2 are bad enough.

[Dem-till-end]

4. 2 are not enough

The war on terror is not contained to one country or one region... oh wait a minuet, yes it is. Dam Russia for failing in Afghanistan 30 years ago with a drafted army.

[whattheidonot]

6. the point.

the point is the draft will be fought. The reasons for the draft will be looked into. The involvements we have in the world will be looked into. When troops are not sent in to solve or maintain these involvements other solutions will have to be made. protecting the investments of a few is not what USA is supposed to be about. It is draining us.

[Thothmes]

7. Consider what President Johnson did with an army that size.

[TheWraith]

3. The children of the rich and powerful usually manage to get out of a draft.

See Bush.

[Thothmes]

8. That was the way LBJ and McNamara wanted it.

[PacerLJ35]

5. I think requiring 2 years of national service would be a good idea

Those "drafted" would not be required to fill combat roles unless they volunteered...it could help out with all those other missions that we've contracted out to corporations, like record-keeping, maintenance and a bunch of other things.

[Name removed]

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[PhD]

11. Conscript armies have generally not been very effective

They usually suffer from poor training and low morale compared to professional, volunteer armies.