Comp 1 Essay

The Military Draft

By

Central Texas College

English 1301

10 February 2009

The Military Draft

The United States has not used the Military Draft since it ended in 1973. Over the last five years, there have been proposals to reinstate the draft. We have had an all volunteer Military for three decades and have endured three conflicts in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Under the draft twenty years ago the Military services were smaller yet today with the volunteer Military has met their enlistment quota to date. Even with this information, I personally feel that the Military Draft should be reinstated for many reasons. Largely in part that we will ensure to have forces to defend our great country.

There is not a lot of support for the draft to be reinstated from the American public. Many feel that it is not right to put their sons and daughter in harms way in Iraq or Afghanistan by drafting them. They actually believe that our all volunteer military can meet recruitment goals and that other countries cannot defeat ours. James Jay Carafano, Ph.D. said that “returning to the draft represents a failure of democracy, not a means to ensure its future” (par. 13). The majority of Congress does not support reinstating the draft and believe that our military services should remain all volunteers. Retired General Robert Scales commented that soldiers that are drafted are more likely to be killed in action than long-service professionals (Time, par. 10). Reinstating the draft now, would cause more young men and women to dodge the draft than ever before. Most people believe that joining the military should be a decision that an individual makes on their own, not something they are forced to do. Louis Caldera, former secretary of the Army said that “attempts to reinstate the draft...