The Quadrangle

Issue date: 10/6/04 Section: News

With all the comparisons between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War, it is not surprising that many people fear the return of a military draft. The military draft was abolished in the early 1970's as opposition to the Vietnam War intensified. But new fears have recently popped up on websites and newspapers that as the war in Iraq continues and military ranks are stretched thin, Congress might move to reinstate the draft.

These fears likely trace back to recent developments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Steps by the Defense Department to bolster the ranks of the military. Earlier this year, The Pentagon ordered the extension of service for some soldiers whose tours of duty were about to end. In July, the military called back 5,600 former active-duty soldiers, and Congress is moving to expand the size of the Army and Marines. Many are also concerned about the large number of reservists that the military has needed to send to Iraq. Currently, 40 percent of the Country's Army reservists and National Guard members are stationed in Iraq, and many of them have been told that their tours will be extended as the violence continues. These are soldiers that normally serve domestically.

The Pentagon and Congress have said that the Draft will absolutely not be reinstated. That, however, has not stopped the issue from spilling over into the Presidential Election. In May John Kerry addressed a question about the military draft. He asserted, "If you elect me President of the United States, I will give us a foreign policy that absolutely makes it unnecessary to have a draft in this nation." He also said that the Bush Administration was "running a kind of clandestine draft" that "turned the National Guard and the Reserves into almost active duty." In September, while in Florida, Kerry addressed the question of whether the draft will be reinstated. Kerry implied that a draft could come back if Bush is reelected. "If George Bush were reelected, given the way he has gone about this war and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea and Iran and other places, is it possible? I can't tell you."

Even if the draft were going to be reinstated, the US Selective Service is not fully prepared to initiate it quickly. The Selective Service System resumed in 1980 during the Cold War. It requires men between the ages of 18 and 26 to register with the government to prepare for a crisis situation in which that a draft had to be reinstated. Jack Martin, the director of Selective Service says that the agency's current budget of $ 26 million annually is inadequate to prepare the military in the event of a national crisis. "We want to be ready to implement a draft, but we are doing nothing in that regard right now....The budget has been flattened. We're probably where we were in 1990 in terms of absolute dollars." Despite the attacks of September 11th and the ongoing War on Terror, the budget has not changed. In the event of a major crisis, the United States may have but few options to force military enlistment through a draft. According to Martin, the agency must track down about 2 million men who turn 18 each year, and the current budget makes that job difficult. "We asked last year for money to update our computer systems, and when it got to Congress, they cut us right back to where we are."

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