During the 2004 presidential election season, the youth of America were told of an impending draft, should George W. Bush be re-elected, in order to scare you into voting Democrat. Included in this group of draft alarmists and fear mongers were members of Punkvoter, MTV’s Rock the Vote, and columnists including Paul Krugman. With the defeat of John Kerry we have to ask ourselves…where’s the draft we were told to fear?
Some memorable draft quotes:
Bush recently threw a bunch of Pentagon money into the Selective Services to try and fire up the draft board. Of course, they’re not going to announce the draft unless Bush gets re-elected-that’s when they’ll spring it on people.
– Jello Biafra, Ex-Dead Kennedys (Alternative Press, Issue #192, July 2004)
I think it’s especially important for young people to be involved, because I have no doubt that if Bush is re-elected, the draft will come back.
- Justin Sane, Anti-Flag (Alternative Press, Issue #192, July 2004)
The U.S. Army is stretched about as far as it can go. The Defense Department is using every measure at its disposal to maintain the military's ranks.
- MTV’s Rock the Vote
[Bush] insists that he won't revive the draft. But the facts suggest that he will.
– Columnist Paul Krugman
1 comment:
To institute a draft the DoD would have to be taken "off line" for about 24 months. Here's some of the obstacles:
Scrap all current Transformation efforts: You may be able to proceed with the Modular Force concept, but you’ll have to halt all changes and reformulate the Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO&E). This is because…
Increase Team and Squad sizes: Conscript troops have a wide variation in levels of motivation, education and initiative. To compensate, more oversight is required. This means more NCOs per troop. One SGT who currently supervises 5 or 7 troops would have to narrow his focus to 3 or 4. When you increase the Team and the Squad, you also increase the Platoon, the Company, the Battalion and all the way up. This means…
A larger and longer logistical train is needed: More troops means a need for more “beans and bullets” and that means more trucks, more truck drivers, more and bigger convoys…This by itself is a problem given current challenges in Iraq.
Bigger platoons also means different equipment has to be obtained: The Bradley, the workhorse of our Mechanized Infantry formations, is designed so that 4 of them can carry one entire platoon. Three each carry a Squad and the fourth carries the platoon HQ. You don’t want to split squads up (hinders teamwork), so a new vehicle that will carry more troops has to be purchased. That’s just one example of that sort.
In order to save money to pay for the larger Army, pay will be cut: And why wouldn’t they? When troops no longer have the choice to serve or not, any pay can be considered “fair.” At the very least, the raises that have become so regular over the last decade, will stop. I also predict, if a draft were initiated, all current troop welfare programs would be frozen if not halted and cut back. The volunteer service has been the biggest single motivator for improving living conditions, facilities, equipment…. No one will volunteer to be mistreated.
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