June 01, 2004

Is a draft imminent?
posted by emilybear 20 years ago
  • NOW the election gets interesting..
  • In a word, no. In more than a word, it would be a disaster no matter what way you slice it. Not to mention that these bills have few, if any sponsors, except for the Democrats that are doing this as a publicity stunt and political statement about the composition of the military. Also, you would be hard pressed to find a military person who wants a draft. The people who are there chose to be there. What sense would it be to throw people into deadly situations that don't care/don't want to be there? It would destroy morale even more than it has already been destroyed in the last few years, and it would lower the efficiency of our military. No one wants that. My guess is that by the time November 3rd rolls along, this will be quietly swept under the rug, never to be heard from again, until the next war happens.
  • It's a matter of math. Soldiers just don't appear magically out of thin air, they have to come from somewhere. Eventually, the way things are going, there will be no choice.
  • I'm not quite sure where you figure that. For the last three years, every branch of the military has either come very close, met, or exceeded their recruitment numbers. I mean, they have to downsize the air force because too many people wanted to join and now they have 20,000 more troops than Congress mandates.
  • Oh, please. What temperature is the sand?
  • explanation from snopes: probably not.
  • also, please note, the site you linked to, congress.org, is run by Issue Dynamics, described on Wikipedia as: Issue Dynamics, Inc. (IDI) is a Washington-based consulting firm that organizes PR campaigns on behalf of clients.
  • Probably won't happen -- definitely won't this year, of course. However, the boost in funding to Selective Service did happen (too lazy to go look up the link, as it's early). I like the idea of not allowing a college exemption. I figure if Congress wants to do this, their kids should be at risk too. Might make 'em think twice.
  • Oh, well, if Rumsfeld says it, it's got to be true.
  • i think a draft simply wouldn't work anymore. there'd be too many people who just plain wouldn't go. period.
  • Very true, that. Draft= Canada, here we come!
  • They are on this draft thing at Metafilter again. Someone needs to send them the Snopes link. (actually I think a selective service officer tried to draft me last night, but when I got home all I found was a hook on the door of my car!) Also the link in this post is attributed somewhat dubiously to Howard Dean, since the site it's on seems to be an obscure semi-comedy site.