« If I had a hammer..I'd hammer in the morning... | Main | WA 5 and 8: The good, the bad and the ugly »

October 25, 2004

Genuine Draft

Is the US headed for a draft?

BC04 says no way, no how. KE04 says we're already having one of the backdoor sort and it's only a matter of time before Bush has to institute a real one in order to maintain his policies.

Paul Glastris floats the notion that if the worm turns in Iran and/or North Korea, Kerry's proposal to increase troop strength by 40,000 won't be enough (and if Bush wins, we'll be in an even deeper hole).

The solution? Glastris offers up a plan:

In a nutshell, we propose that every young person headed for a four-year college be required, as a condition of admittance, to serve his or her country for a year or two in some capacity--as an AmeriCorps member, in some homeland security role, or in the military. All who complete their service would receive G.I.-Bill-type college scholarships, with the largest grants going to those who serve the longest and choose the most dangerous duty. No one, then, would be required to join the military. But even if only, say, five percent of the million-plus young people who enter four-year colleges a year were to choose the military option, the U.S. military would be getting 50,000 additional college-grade volunteers to deploy as needed (probably as MPs and truck drivers in places like Kosovo and South Korea, but possibly in Iraq).

Glastris goes on to say that he's floated the idea to students deep in Bush Country (Twin Falls, Idaho) and more than half favored the idea. Glastris says he's had similar reactions all over the country.

I have a son who will be 18 at the end of Kerry's first term or Bush's second. He's very likely going to be a college bound student who would fall under the pirameters of Glastris' plan. I like the idea of him having options, especially if a military draft becomes inevitable.

How would we get this to work in a time where the military requires a regular draft? Would the service young people had already given be counted as a part of their service or would they have to start from scratch?

There's some important unanswered questions.

Posted by Carla at October 25, 2004 08:31 AM