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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 07/23/2019 09:36:52

Good Morning.

Just got time for a drive-by today.


And it's a good one - are you ready for the draft?
Although merely a thought exercise at this time, there's some serious commentary floating around about re-instating the draft.

As we all know, the transition to an all-volunteer force came in the wake of the Vietnam war, and the military has struggled with recruiting ever since. Maybe it is that people just don't want to die in combat?


There is no doubt that there is a serious problem in manning the American military. The problem is not the military’s. The problem belongs to the American people and Congress.

In 1973, the soon-to-be most disgraced president of the United States implemented the all-volunteer force (AVF) and did away with conscription — a political and social act to atone for the sins of the most unpopular war in our country’s history and an unfair military draft. So, today, 330 million Americans lay claim to rights, liberties, and privileges that not one of them is obligated to protect and defend. So, this task falls to a small portion of Americans, largely from the third and fourth socio-economic quintiles, to discharge on behalf of a nation of limited-liability patriots.

Maj. Gen. Malcom Frost, the former commander of the Army’s Initial Military Training Command, said that “the next existential threat we have…is the inability to man our military.”

Recruiting problems historically are most acute in the Army; it is the canary in the coal mine. Last year, the Army’s initial recruiting goal was 80,000 enlistees. Early in the year, that was reduced to 76,500. The Army ultimately enlisted 70,000, a shortfall of 7,600. Of the 70,000 recruited, 10 to 12 percent required waivers of existing “standards” and 1.9 percent were Category IV (CAT IV) recruits who scored between the 10th and 31st percentile on the Army’s aptitude test. A 2005 Rand Corp. study identified that CAT IV soldiers perform between 20.4 and 30.0 percent less effectively than higher scoring recruits. Thus, the Army had a quantity and a quality failure, despite offering unprecedented enlistment “bonuses” that are disproportionately attractive to the lower socio-economic classes. The other services are experiencing problems in specific functional areas: pilots, cyber warriors and special ops, as examples.

Over the past 18 years of “endless war,” the Pentagon has adopted numerous measures to prop up the AVF. These measures included: repeat deployments that violated long-standing dwell time policies; stop-loss, a “back door draft”; unprecedented enlistment and reenlistment bonuses; lowered enlistment standards; and the use of prescription psychotropic drugs to deal with service members’ emotional and psychological stress. We had too much war and not enough warriors, but the American people and Congress declined to consider conscription, leaving the problems to the Pentagon and the 1 percent of the population willing to serve in the military.


Most of the 'real' politicians are well-aware of how unpopular a draft would be, but they're not the problem here. If Mr. Trump decides that will make America great again, well....we'll have a draft, won't we?


 
 

9 comments (Latest Comment: 07/23/2019 18:25:25 by Raine)
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Comment by wickedpam on 07/23/2019 12:30:09
Morning

Comment by Scoopster on 07/23/2019 14:04:22
Mornin' all..

Today's already started off fantastic. Got a text from my ex (yeah, THAT ex) out of nowhere, and it tilted my whole morning. I almost tripped over myself twice walking thru downtown, got kinda thrown off balance a third time when the driver took a corner way too sharp, and my full cup of delicious coffee literally shredded in my hand, half of it spilling all over the place. I had to drink the rest ASAP to prevent it from spilling out of the broken cup.

Not really sure where my head is at right now, other than trying to get buried in my work.

Comment by Raine on 07/23/2019 14:10:41
Good Morning!



Comment by Raine on 07/23/2019 14:11:21
Quote by Scoopster:
Mornin' all..

Today's already started off fantastic. Got a text from my ex (yeah, THAT ex) out of nowhere, and it tilted my whole morning. I almost tripped over myself twice walking thru downtown, got kinda thrown off balance a third time when the driver took a corner way too sharp, and my full cup of delicious coffee literally shredded in my hand, half of it spilling all over the place. I had to drink the rest ASAP to prevent it from spilling out of the broken cup.

Not really sure where my head is at right now, other than trying to get buried in my work.
. (( ))


Comment by BobR on 07/23/2019 15:14:38
Quote by Scoopster:
Mornin' all..

Today's already started off fantastic. Got a text from my ex (yeah, THAT ex) out of nowhere, and it tilted my whole morning. I almost tripped over myself twice walking thru downtown, got kinda thrown off balance a third time when the driver took a corner way too sharp, and my full cup of delicious coffee literally shredded in my hand, half of it spilling all over the place. I had to drink the rest ASAP to prevent it from spilling out of the broken cup.

Not really sure where my head is at right now, other than trying to get buried in my work.

Yikes.

Comment by Raine on 07/23/2019 15:53:20
Mondo is on the road to recovery!

He is staying an extra day to recuperate.

Comment by Scoopster on 07/23/2019 15:54:05
Quote by Raine:
Mondo is on the road to recovery!

He is staying an extra day to recuperate.

That must've been some BBQ sauce you done knocked him on his arse!

Comment by Raine on 07/23/2019 18:22:55
Quote by Scoopster:
Quote by Raine:
Mondo is on the road to recovery!

He is staying an extra day to recuperate.

That must've been some BBQ sauce you done knocked him on his arse!

He never got to it.

We all are thinking he got a bad sandwich at lunch. We were running late and went to a friends party across the street (Burgers and the like) and figured we could have the pulled pork and Sauce on Monday night...

Twas not meant to be. He's staying an extra night just to make sure he's healthy and rested enough to drive.

(the sauce rocked, he may be able to eat some of it tonite. If not, I 'll frezze some of that and the smoked pulled pork and send him home with it.)

Comment by Raine on 07/23/2019 18:25:25
Ok, last time he was running I tried to be as neutral as (personally could be) possible.

He's a jerk in this clip.