Introduction
Reinstating a military draft would be retrogressive both for the social and economic lives of the American people. The paper shall analyze this statement on the basis of labor wage costs and other doctrines that are instrumental in maintaining the military.
Problems with reinstating the military draft
The military draft is another way for the Department of Defense to run away from the true costs of engaging in war by keeping down their labor costs. Once reinstated, the military draft would ensure that the US Army has a sufficient number of soldiers required to run efficiently. The alternative to this is to recruit members on a purely voluntary basis. The major incentive for the public to join such an army in the latter case would be its wage levels. If soldiers got over fifty thousand dollars annually, then chances are that so many recruits would be attracted. Therefore, a military draft is another mechanism that the Defense department is utilizing in order to deviate from the true economics of its human resource personnel. (Williams, 3)
In order to place the latter argument in perspective, then one can imagine a different scenario like say a General Dynamics firm. The latter firm engages in production of Army supplies that are just as important in the process of running the military as the soldiers themselves. If the government was to issue draft notices to the public to wok for General Dynamics at three hundred dollars, then this would solicit very harsh reactions. The public would call such a draft slave labor and no one would support it. If a draft seems quite inappropriate for other aspects of the military, then it is only logical for the same consideration to be made in terms of recruitment of soldiers.
One argument that has been put forward by supporters of the military draft is that this approach ensures that sufficient numbers of soldiers are recruited at costs that can be duly afforded by the government hence supporting the fundamentals of economics. However, this argument is quite misinformed – every time the military employs a soldier, then that soldier is forced to forego other income generating activities that would contribute towards the economy of the nation. In this regard, the individual ought to be compensated for sacrificing this responsibility in order to join army. Consequently, the use of the military draft disregards this fact and ignores that rational of what most economists call opportunity costs.
In order to understand why a military draft is a bad idea, it would be essential to look into current operations of the US Army. A number of analysts have asserted that this army is one of the best in the developed world yet in order to get to that level, the country has been using an all-volunteer strategy. One would therefore wonder, if this strategy is working so well currently, then what would be the point of changing it. Instead of focusing the country’s energies on compulsory military recruitment, policymakers ought to be directing their energies to other issues that are not working. The military should be left to continue with its methods as these have managed to serve the nation so far. (Williams, 6)
Researches carried out by a number of teams amongst the American public has found that most citizens disfavor reinstatement of a military draft. (Angus Reid Scan, par 4)In the year 2006, Angus Reid Global Scan asserted that sixty eight percent of the participants who took part in their survey felt that a military draft was ill advised while four percent were uncertain and the remaining percentage favored reinstatement. If the public feels that such a strategy will not work for the country, then there is no point for the government to pursue it because they will basically be working on their own.
Some supporters of the military draft support its reinstatement claiming that US soldiers engage in several missions around the world and also in two wars i.e. Afghanistan and Iraq. Consequently, in order to meet this increased demand for soldiers, then personnel recruitment should be made compulsory. (Vennochi, 1)There are two major problems with this argument. First of all, the current President of the US opposes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and even went ahead to promise a timetable for withdrawal of US troops from those regions. Consequently, if the country’s plan is to withdraw troops, then there would be no need for recruiting more of them. On top of that, having a larger number of Army personnel would not guarantee success in these wars. Instead, the root cause of the Iraq and Afghanistan problem should be addressed through peaceful means as it has already been seen that military mechanisms have failed the country.
Lastly, reinstating a military draft would mean that more individuals will be risking their lives everyday for war. In other words this would put citizen’s friends and family in danger without necessarily getting consent from them. This would especially be a problem in case the country’s leaders opt to engage in an unnecessary war. For instance, many have asserted that the war in Iraq was founded on flimsy excuses and as such, it should not have occurred in the first place. Members of the army were put in harm’s way for a very fragile coz.
Conclusion
Choosing to participate in the Army should be a matter that is entirely voluntary. This is because the bravest or courageous soldiers are those ones who are driven by the spirit of patriotism and love for their current. It is likely that such members would produce better results than those ones deployed through a military draft, therefore a military draft should not be reinstated.
Works cited
Williams, W. “Reinstating the military draft.’ The Townhall Daily, 2006: 3
Angus Reid Scan. American reject reinstatement of the military Draft. 2006. Web.
Williams, W. “Should the military draft be reinstated?” Capitalism magazine 2006: 6
Vennochi, J. A military draft might awaken us. The Boston Globe 2006: 1