WILL there be a military draft?

[uppityperson]

Last edited Mon Nov 23, 2015, 02:34 PM - Edit history (1)

I am NOTasking if you support one, instead what do you see happening in the next year or 2. I know there are too many variables to accurately predict, like who is the next president, but still, the concern persists in my mind.

Thoughts?

26 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes, there will be a draft before Obama leaves office
	1 (4%)
	Yes, there will be a draft after the next President is inaugurated
	1 (4%)
	No, there will not be a draft.
	24 (92%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[sharp_stick]

1. No, not a chance

the military is too big as it is. They've been cutting the numbers for years and plan to keep doing it. A draft would increase the headcount so far beyond capability that it could never happen.

[SheilaT]

2. I certainly hope not.

A lot of people point to the near-universal draft of WWII, and lament that we don't have the same any more. I think that's a total non-issue, because WWII was an anomalous blip on the radar. We were engaged in a total war. We went to a war footing that Germany and Japan didn't bother with, which is a good part of why we won that war.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Too politically inconvenient for the powers that be.. so no, not a draft

It is best to have that same 1 percent of Americans go back repeatedly.

For the record. I am noticing an interesting phenomena. Most who oppose the draft these days were either Vietnam era vets or alive back then (and conscious). Increasingly the vets of the GWOT are coming in favor of one. They just want people to actually start paying attention... and right now... let's go shopping.

Oh and the argument that it lengthens wars... well... this one is already longer than our involvement in Nam. The only reason casualties are lower (US Military casualties) are the nature of modern wars.

[gratuitous]

4. As long as the Republicans can keep tanking the economy, no

There's a ready-made supply of young men who will believe the star-spangled patter of the recruiters while simultaneously being told that the military is really the only way out or up. No need for a draft as long as wages remain stagnant and job opportunities for young men coming into the market stay elusive.

The children of wealth will remain safe while their fathers send others off to kill and die.

[Recursion]

5. Pentagon doesn't want one, so I can't see it going anywhere (nt)

[Duckhunter935]

6. No

They are forcing people out now due to end strength caps

[Solly Mack]

7. No. Drafts aren't politically expedient.

[cherokeeprogressive]

8. Not on your life. The Generals would all quit in protest. It's a brave new world...

Where no one, especially young people, does anything they don't absolutely want to.

An army comprised of 5,000,000 of today's slackers would certainly be decimated by an army of 10,000 who believe in a cause, any cause, in a matter of hours.

The Generals would all quit in protest and the civilian government knows it. Therefore, no draft. Ever.

[CoffeeCat]

28. Can you imagine the amount of Starbuck's caramel macchiatos...

...that it would take just to get those millennial soldiers awake in the morning? That alone would sink our defense budget!

(I can be snarky like that because I'm the mom of two millennials).

[Ron Green]

9. I believe the Pentagon wants an all-volunteer force recruited from the permanent underclass.

They're so much more grateful, and easy to radicalize.

[EL34x4]

14. These days the military wants choirboys

Who have never been in any kind of trouble with the law. Physically-fit, drug-free and no criminal history. Better have at least a high school diploma on top of all that.

Military service pays well, has excellent benefits and opportunities for advancement. Recruiters today are turning away more people than they're signing up, something they haven't been able to do for years.

[Ron Green]

17. I see. When the private-sector jobs have gone offshore,

these public-sector jobs become easier to fill. And go offshore.

[JoePhilly]

10. No. That would prevent war.

A draft with no exceptions would ensure that no politician would ever vote for war unless the invaders were landing on the U.S. beaches by the thousands.

[Ex Lurker]

11. The only draft I could envision

is for specialties, like medical fields, or certain tech skills, if they aren't able to fill their needs through recruitment. That has happened on occasion with doctors-I believe Korea was the last time. Modern militaries don't need massive numbers of troops any more. It takes so long to train a soldier now that by the time a draftee knows enough about soldiering to be of some use, his/her enlistment would be up. You need someone who will be there for at least four years to be worth investing in their training, and that length of service would be politically unfeasible barring an existential national crisis-I'm talking alien invasion or the Yellowstone Caldera blowing up.

[pampango]

12. No. Forcing people to kill others is not a liberal concept. Liberals fought against the draft when

we had one. The draft did not prevent war, the death of 50,000+ Americans and more than a million people total. I have no nostalgia for it.

[uppityperson]

23. I do not want one, and not asking if people support one, just if they think there will be one

[Javaman]

13. why does this pop up every now and then?

It seems as if there is a timed release on DU. Every 4 to 6 months this question is asked.

and the answer is always no.

[uppityperson]

22. The question is usually "should there be a draft". The answer to that is always no

This poll is "will" there be which is entirely different. I asked because I can hear more support about going after DAESH in Syria and fear a draft might happen beyond our protests.

[Javaman]

31. .slice and dice it anyway you want, the answer is and always be no.

those days are behind us.

we now live in a post draft society where people join up, become soldiers and get killed and, sadly, no one gives a rats ass. we are involved in 170 nations around the world, doing god knows what to god knows who for god knows what reason, yet, we prattle on, motor on and plain ignore everything. This is all done so there never is another national conversation about a draft, because the political establishment have realized, if there ever was a draft it would be certain political death. it's better to kill from above and from afar then up close and personal. we live in the network tv media propaganda box 24/7 information spew era. The one thing that would jolt the American public from their dream like delusion of America being "#1" is the daily totals of draft aged kids getting fed to the meat grinder for something they never gave a shit about in the first place. the days of real support for the sensational jingoistic US of A has gone the way of the body bags coming home from Viet Nam. Can't have that shit on tv. (we know this because george w. moron* did everything he* could to prevent the coffins being seen coming home from Iraq - hell the moron* didn't even go to one funeral. that would mean he had to acknowledge that people were actually dying because of him*. and those poor fuckers weren't even drafted).


junior won't be going unwillingly anytime soon.

[uppityperson]

33. you asked why this question pops up, and seemed to misunderstand what I asked

I was trying to clarify my question.

"Will" is much different than "should" there be. I truly hope there is not but because of things like what you write, and the current OMG tenor of the GOPers, fear there may be. The best reason I've read for it not happening is if there is a terrorist strike on the USA (and simply repeated shootings don't count for some odd reason) is that Partriotism (tm) signups will happen again like after 9/11.

I fear the GOP.

[Javaman]

34. there will be no draft.

don't confuse sign ups with a draft.

two entirely different animals.

it's one thing to be gung ho and join up, but it's an entirely different thing to be drafted.

many men who went to Viet Nam joined before getting drafted because they knew they had a low lottery number. They chose to join so they could pick which branch they will serve in.

In WW2 the same thing happened. And please dissuade yourself that being drafted in WW2 was something everyone wanted. Unless you had an out, you knew you were going so you resigned yourself.

WWI had the white feather society bastards that shamed men in to joining up.

no matter who calls for it, a draft will never ever be popular and won't happen.

also remember, many of those who said they were going to "join up" to fight the "heathens" in Iraq, never did.

it all looks good on paper until the lead starts flying.

there will be no draft even if they attack here.

what I do fully expect is: if there is an attack, expect what's left of our civil liberties to vanish. and if it were to happen before election day, expect, one of the right wing morons to be elected and we slide into full fascism.

[uppityperson]

35. I have no confusion over forced inscription vs voluntary

I found it interesting that claims are only 1/4 of Vietnam military were draftees. Well, how many signed up because of their low # so they'd have some sort of choice?

[former9thward]

37. The lottery came late in the Vietnam War.

Most of the war it was not a consideration. By the time it did come the U.S. was attempting to "Vietnamese" the war and troops were being rotated out.

[Orsino]

15. In this economy?

They're more likely to draft people OUT of the military.

[ileus]

16. No

[Iggo]

18. There should be.

War Without End seems to demand one.

If we want to be The Permanent War Country, it's going to have to be mandatory military service for all, no?

[ProfessorGAC]

19. I Said No

But, i'm ambivalent. I don't think anybody should HAVE TO fight a war, especially one like this. But, since a voluntary military, where war is endless, disproportionately affect the lower economic strata. Of course, instituting a draft would be rife with deferrments and special favors so that people like Silverspoon can play soldier here in the US but not actually to the war.

I still don't think the political will exists, now matter how much one supports the war. Even Graham isn't talking about a draft, and he wants to go to war with everybody.

[MineralMan]

20. Not a chance.

At all.

[City Lights]

21. Nope. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. If there is, Canada and Mexico will have to build their own fences.

[haele]

25. No, it's not a politically viable position.

If there's a draft, the general population might suddenly be concerned about the realities of military posturing.
It's okay if "those people" or poor people use the military as one of the few sources of income and training available to them, and it's comfortable to be in a position to put that yellow ribbon bumper magnet to "Support the Troops" station in some dusty location that the average American can't find in the satellite view on Google Earth without the boundaries and text enabled. but there's a significant silent majority of parents would suddenly be up in arms if their precious little Keegan or Kaylee might run the risk being drafted in a profiteer's war. Not to mention a significant number of Millennials who don't want their lives interrupted by a draft.

There's too many people who have either actively avoided or forgotten to register for Selective Service since 2007 or 2008 when it became increasingly obvious that the so-called War on Terror was really a cynically sectarian battle for Profits as it was.

Haele

[winter is coming]

26. No. If you have a large enough pool of people who can't find full-time work elsewhere,

you don't need a draft.

[MADem]

27. It would take World War Three for a draft to be initiated, and even at that,

it wouldn't happen until we were well into the conflict, and only if it looked like it was going to be a long, unrelenting slog. A surge of patriotism would overwhelm existing training capabilities, and it would take months to ramp up additional physical assets to accommodate surge training programs.

Further, we have fine tuned our reserve/guard capability over the last quarter of a century, and that fast plus-up capability almost obviates the need for a draft.

More to the point, were we fighting an "all out war," we'd use far less restraint than we do now (protestations to the contrary are understandable, but when all bets are off there'd really be something to cry about). It would probably speed the end of the conflict, at great cost, of course, but that's the nature of war.

It's an ugly business.

[uppityperson]

29. That surge of patriotism thought helps, thank you

My fear is that something more bad will happen, end result in upping the military to "go get the" etc. But I forgot to factor in the Patriotic surge factor.

It's an ugly business for sure.

[giftedgirl77]

30. No, we are still overly inflated from the insane rotations

we were doing to Iraq & Afghanistan.

[DFW]

32. I don't see it as being a vote-getter

And thus a no-go in Congress.

[Xolodno]

36. As long as College isn't free...

....not a chance in hell.

There will always be a pool of people who can't afford college and yet, smart enough to work on a 14 million dollar plane.

It's sad really. Just think of the potential these people have in the private sector...

Plus I come from a long line of conscientious objectors....so you have that problem as well. Now if you say "National Service" for a year or two. When I was younger, would have been glad to work in a National or State Park maintaining trials, monitoring wildlife, etc.

Shit...I'd be happy to do it now actually.

[hack89]

38. No need for one and the military vehemently opposes one. Nt

[whatthehey]

39. A ludicrous question

Modern warfare does not depend on huge numbers of ground troops, expecially barely trained ground troops who don't want to be there.

[Orrex]

40. Not if you shut the military window

Heigh-O!

[Chan790]

41. There will never ever be another draft again.

The reason has nothing to do with whether there should be one...the military does not want non-professional non-volunteer soldiers in any capacity. Any reinstatement of the draft will be done over their staunchest objections.