Not In Kansas Anymore (NIKA)

As for draftees making poor soldiers, they seemed to do well enough in WWII and Korea (facing down the Chinese who had virtually no limits on their fighting, while the UN hamstrung the U.S. from doing anything too drastic). Vietnam was different because of the nature of the war. We could have had success in that conflict had there been more of a commitment on the homefront from the politicians and citizenry. In Vietnam, as in Iraq: the problem is compounded when you are not an invading force, but an occupier, trying to hold the nation together until a unified government forms.

At least in Iraq, the stated goal is extremely clear ..... it remains a question as to whether it can actually be pulled off.

Several schools in our area have mandatory volunteerism (an oxymoron to be sure) as a graduation requirement. Talking to some kids, I would say half like it, and half are turned off by it (which may mean that they would be less likely to help out in the future, since they have "done their time".

Israel is a poor example to use, since the citizens are keenly aware of the consequences of not havng as large a military as possible: they get bulldozed into non-existence. Some of the nations of Europe that still mandate military or civilian service might make better examples, but several of these nations have citizens used to taking orders from the government, and not vice-versa.

The 'draftees tend to make poor soldiers' meme is very situational. A lot depends on the war, the society and (most important to this former Marine) the NCOs in charge of training and cadre at the units the draftees end up in.

I am not sure forced labor is the solution to the ills we have. Sure - when we had a draftee Army we were (perhaps) more cohesive. But was that because we had draftees or in spite of it? There might be something to think about there - that forcing young men from disparate backgrounds reinforced a good direction in society, not the cause of it.

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I am sure that a draftee army could not have won the recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan as neatly and easily as the AVF recently did. That may be a good thing in that we wont' _try_ such campaigns in the future. Or not.

It strikes me that wanting a draftee force (which is not what you're saying I know, but others have argued this) that is not the best we could have not optimal. You won't be tempted to foreign adventures, sure but if you really _need_ them to be effective ... they won't be.

The solution might not be to impell people to work against their will but to fix the underlying culture. This might not be easy - it might be impossible.

Now THERE is a down note to end the post on.