Jewish World Review Nov. 19, 2002 / 14 Kislev, 5763
Jack Kelly
A draft would harm the military
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
On July 11, 2001, David Edmond Lucitt of Haymarket, Virgina became the
millionth man to register for the Selective Service, but neither Lucitt nor
any of the other registrants are likely ever to be drafted.
"The military has long since concluded that it is far more effective
relying on long service volunteers. They wouldn't want a draft even if it
were offered," said retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevitch, now a professor of
international relations at Boston University.
A draft is not needed to fill the ranks. The Army, Navy, Air Force and
Marine Corps have had no difficulty meeting their recruiting goals for the
last two fiscal years, and expect none this year.
But a draft substantially would lower the overall quality of recruits. Last
year 91 percent of recruits had high school diplomas, compared to just 79
percent of civilians aged 18-24. During the draft era, the education level
of recruits was below that of the youth population as a whole.
"These are high tech, complicated jobs," said Marine Major David Griesmer.
"They're not for everybody."
Staff Sergeant Freeman J. Lowe, a Marine recruiter in suburban Pittsburgh,
can attest to that. He's had to turn away nearly 80 percent of the young
people who walked into his office seeking to enlist because they did not
meet the Marine Corps' exacting standards.
"These were young people who wanted to serve their country, but they had
academic problems, or law problems, or drug problems," Lowe said.
Nearly 97 percent of the recruits who entered the Marine Corps last year had
high school diplomas, a breathtaking change from the draft era. When I went
through Marine boot camp in 1970, there were more dropouts than high school
graduates in my recruit platoon, and there were twice as many
judge-motivated volunteers as there were recruits with any college. (The
other guy who'd been to college was dual-hatted: He'd been busted for
smoking dope at the University of Tulsa. The judge told him to choose
between six months in jail or two years in the Marines.)
We fought the Gulf War without needing a draft. More than 500,000 American
troops took part in that conflict. President Bush, according to leaks to the
Washington Post, Washington Times and the New York Times, has signed off on
a war plan for Iraq that calls for the use of just 250,000 soldiers,
sailors, airmen and Marines, of which only 60,000 to 80,000 would be ground
troops.
A smaller force can do the job, military experts say, because the Iraqi
military is much worse than it was then, and ours is much better.
"In the late 1980s, Iraq had the world's third largest army," said John
Thompson, a former Canadian army officer who heads the Mackenzie Institute,
a Toronto-based think tank which studies global conflict. "They lost half of
it during the Gulf War, and they've done a poor job of maintaining the
remaining half."
"In 1991, nothing the Iraqis had could penetrate the armor of the Abrams
tank. Now it is thicker," Thompson said. "In 1991, the Iraqis couldn't hide
from the Apache attack helicopter. Thanks to the Longbow, the Apache can now
see farther."
The Longbow is radar that can locate and classify up to 128 potential
targets in 30 seconds. Army tests indicate Longbow Apache is four times more
lethal and seven times more survivable than the Apaches that fought in the
Gulf War.
The greatest increase in U.S. military effectiveness has been in air power.
Retired Air Force LtGen. Thomas McInerney said today's Air Force is "ten
times better" than ten years ago. The Iraqi air force was a non-factor in
the Gulf War, and is a third the size now that it was then.
Even if a draft would be useful, it couldn't be implemented in time to help
in Iraq. Congress would have to pass a law authorizing resumption of
conscription. The Selective Service estimates it would be 193 days after
that before the first draftees would report for basic training.
"If we started the draft tomorrow, we'd be two years into the occupation
before we had draftees ready for service overseas," said retired Army LtCol.
James Carafano, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budget
Priorities in Washington, D.C.
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© 2002, Jack Kelly
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