WWII? There was a draft in WWII as I recall, and there was a draft in Korea, and in Vietnam. Are you sayng Americans are not patriotic about serving?

Like it or not, we are at war -- if undeclared -- and Bush says it won't end anytime soon. Better to start now than not start at all.

Don't preach to us about callings. I have over 10 years of service (enlisted and officer, Guard, Active and IRR). This is not analogous to ANYTHING we have encountered since 1982. This is not a stop-loss to stabilize forces for initial entry ops, but a continued war "waged on the cheap" with sacrifice borne on those that enlisted pre-2001 and officers commissioned before even that.

I'd love to know which fantasy-USAR world you are living in. If even the majority of reservists agreed with your sentiments, why the IRR Recalls, Stop-Loss, Denial or resignation requests, mercenary bonuses paid to "volunteers", declining enlistments and skyrocketing attrition? The USAR only made 43% of its quarterly enlistment goal for the 1st quarter of FY '05. They only made 45% their ludicrously low OCS mission in FY '04. The USAR is 5,000 CAPTAINS SHORT!!!

You represent an extreme minority opinion by being one of those rare souls that 1) denies the enormity of the personnel/recruitment situation and 2) by being one that espouses such "pie in the sky" opinions AND serves in uniform.

Congratulations!

If you're going to cite U.S. Code, ask yourself, is this a war? Is this a national emergency? If it is, why has the President never asked for a voluntary "call to service" despite well-documented knowledge that recruiting and retention are rapidly heading downward?

FYI, in a legal sense this is NOT a war. The "national emergency" part could be argued, but it would be a tortured argument given that there are 300 million U.S. citizens, millions of whom are men between 18-26. We have had 3 years since 9/11 and almost 2 years since OIF kicked off. It didn't have to come to this.

Nonsense! By your logic, the entire history of the 2ID in Korea has been a failure. That is a division where over 90% of the personnel have rotated in and out on an annual basis for 40 years. Were units like the 1/506 and the 1/503 ready to go to Iraq - you bet your ass they were. These fomations were only "together" for a short while.

You are blind to reality.

Several Guard/Reserve battllions deploying in OIF 3 are comprised of 60% or more IRR recalls and cross-levels. Somehow, our national leadership feels that 2 months of "check the block" training is all that is required to kick these ad hoc units out the door. What about the 5 weeks of "quickie MP" training given to FA batteries headed to Iraq for a year. So much for the "1 1/2 years to 2 years" to master doctrine myth you assert.

"The guys at the front" have no historical benchmark for assessing the many contributions that draftees have made to our Army. I think if the question was posed to Guardsmen: "Draft and no deployment for you for five years" or "No Draft and constant sword of Damocles (deployment)", most would say draft.

You pimp the all-volunteer force but gloss over that MANY don't "want to be there". Pre-War ('01-'02) the Army attritted 39% of enlistees before scheduled ETS and among white women that number was 58%.

Last Thing: don't compare this to WWII. It really diminishes our national sacrifice in WWII. That was a national mobilization where a nation 1/2 our current size put 16 million men in uniform. I and many other potential victims of the "backdoor draft" would be cool with a recall if other citizens shouldered their share in this "emergency." They aren't and rhetoric is cheap to those who have honorably served.

The Guard and Reserved served many years of constant active duty in WWII and Korea. Its what it is intended for. When both the Democrats and Republicans gutted the Gulf War I era Army from 750K active to under 500K, that made both the Guard and the Reserve part of any sustained commitment.

BTW, how did we sustain a 750K army all through the 80s without a draft? And with a smaller population base at that. Somehow magically, now it can only be achieved with a draft. Heh! You can fill body bags in 90 days, it takes over a year and nearly two to build a major formation that is trained, integrated, and cohesive to operate with the modern doctrine the Army has evolved.

As the guys in the front say now, they don't want draftees coving their backs. No thank you. They desire someone who wants to be there with them.

Zbig? Zbigniew Brzezinski, is that you?

In a geo-political content, as Zbig would say, this is bs. This too-lawyerly voyage through the dictionary points, again, to the glossing over reality: the military is far too small, or the war is too big.

The Reserve and the Guard are citizen-soldier forces, and were not intended to be converted to career status. It isn't like this is an emergency -- the war is nearly two years old,and the need for far more troops in Iraq is not a surprise.

It baffles me -- how can this be seen as anything other than a way of temporarily boosting troop levels without doing what is needed: restoring the draft.

Yes, this is a backdoor draft, and were I a student of 18 or 19 years of age, I'd be reconciling myself to the very good possibility of serving America in Iraq, whether I wanted to or not.

- RT

Unless terminated at an earlier date by the Secretary concerned, the period of active service of any member of an armed force is extended for the duration of any war in which the United States may be engaged and for six months thereafter.

During Desert Storm, we heard Reservists say, on TV from the desert, "I never expected to go to war!" Too bad. It still says US Army on our uniforms. Every conflict of any length since I enlisted in '82 has caused stop-loss or something like it. Oh, well.

Maybe college money gets some in, but we stay because we have a calling. Don't hear the call? Then bugger off.

"Bollocks. The reserve component, national guard included, is just that, a “reserve” component. Enlisting for the reserves, national guard or ANG is exactly the same as enlisting for active duty with just one caveat: you don’t have to be at the 0600hrs formation 5 days a week until Uncle Sugar calls you up. ..."

Right. And if they didn't have the reserves and all the related options, the remaining option(s) available to increase (or maintain) force levels would be?....

If this change is approved, the reservist's gamble of *some* active duty time in exchange for *some* benefits will change to *guaranteed* active duty time for the same benefits as before, for at least five years and probably longer. If you know you're going to go to some nasty place with people trying to kill you, why would you choose to do it with an under equipped, under trained unit?

If you think the FY2005Q1 recruiting results for the Guard and Reserve were sad, just wait.

In December when I re-enlisted, I had to renew my ID card. There were 5 servemembers there who were also getting updated ID cards for themselves and their families due to their activation. I did not hear one complaint! There was a nurse who was leaving her 14 year old son and husband to go to Kuwait for 1 year. There was an officer who had gotten out 5 years earlier (but remained in the Individual Ready Reserve) who was going to Afganistan.

There were too young Navy Reservists who had volunteered to go active duty for at least one year each.

Yet no one was complaining. These people are real heros in my book. Has anyone seen any figures on AWOL Reservists/National Guardsmen?

If it were any significant numbers (are there any?) then the media would be making an issue of it, but they are not.

Just like in the Revolutionary War and almost every war since, the Reserve/National Guard service members are doing what they agreed to do and more.

Sure there might be a few who do complain, but that is a soldiers right as long as they do what they agreed to do, then they are heros in my book!

And even though I am a Reservist, I still thank my fellow service members when I see them (I also thank my fellow veterans - you should see the appreciation in their faces!).

The nurse became emotional as no one had ever thanked her for her service before.

Stephen

There is no doubt that it is hard on the reservists' families. However, this is not a reason to keep them out of the fight. When you enlist, who have made a committment and should honor it willingly.