Reply #10: Drafts are....

[Sammy Pepys]

1) Procedurally difficult - the Admin will have little say over the actual passage of a draft because it's a Congressional function, and they've only got about three years left as it is. And from the time you decide a draft is needed until the time it actually happens can take months, and from the time those drafted are trained you're looking at a year and a half to nearly two years. That's not counting any number of Congressional debates and hearings on the subject, which will asuredly push the timetable even further.

2) Generally inefficient - Unless you can convince a significant number of conscripts to stay on, they'll be released from service before they even get into the field with the training required for todays military.

3) Politically suicidal - The only draft legilsation that's recently been offered is mostly for the purposes of making political statements, not because DoD is actually looking for or wants a draft. Anyone serious about it would probably not find many allies and probably not find themselves in office much longer.

4) The military isn't designed solely around manpower anymore - BRAC and transformation are major steps away from huge force structures. We're not prepping to fight major conflicts ala WWII anymore. The new emphasis is on more mobile, specialized forces.

5) No one wants it anyway.