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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (52822)	7/5/2004 8:04:16 AM
From: quehubo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793761

Perhaps I am wrong, but I recall some of the senior enlisted personnel indicating they were drafted into Vietnam but decided to volunteer later. Most of the E-6, E-7's I ran into at the beginning of my service were not the caliber of person required. How much will it take? I dont know what the price is but the price of forcing people to serve would be high. I also question why you think the average draftee would be of better quality that the average volunteer. With higher compensation levels to attract more personnel the military would have more personnel to select from. Perhaps part of the emphasis on compensation should be raising the education level at least to High School level. How much training does the average enlistee get in the Army before this person lands in Iraq? How much of these hard skills are transferrable to civilian life? My guess is that the vast majority of the positions in the Army and the Marines provide very limited technical training and are not so attractive to volunteers who are smart enough to find something better. Some people volunteer because with varying levels of patriotism and commitment deciding that working in the Army must be better than Wallmart. Others do it because they are patriotic but they wont be giving up 4-6 years of their life without learning some hard skills that will be transferrable to well paying jobs when they leave at 23 or 25 years of age. Have you been looking around the USA and talking to non military personnel? Most people do not feel their freedom is being threatened by this WOT. The theaters are filled at F 9 11 with people thinking the CIC is a threat to their freedom. A bit of hyperbole I hope. When the country feels really threatened, I dont think you will see a problem with quantity and quality of volunteers. Truthfully I think all people should provide some type of civil service for 3-4 years. But I do not see our leaders raising this as a national issue because I know they realize that this would be political suicide. I also think that with the size of the country there are way to many eligible people to be drafted that there are positions to be filled or funded. I will pay whatever it takes to maintain my lifestyle and keep the military well prepared on the WOT. I would prefer to pay someone who volunteers whatever it takes instead of paying someone who does not want to serve. I have a keen sense of the problem the military is facing, but I dont think the draft will be the solution you were hoping for.