Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said this week that the United States should bring back the draft if it ever goes to war again.Read the rest here.
"I think we ought to have a draft. I think if a nation goes to war, it shouldn't be solely be represented by a professional force, because it gets to be unrepresentative of the population," McChrystal said at a late-night event June 29 at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival. "I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk. You make that decision and everybody has skin in the game."
He argued that the burdens of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan haven't been properly shared across the U.S. population, and emphasized that the U.S. military could train draftees so that there wouldn't be a loss of effectiveness in the war effort.
"I've enjoyed the benefits of a professional service, but I think we'd be better if we actually went to a draft these days," he said. "There would some loss of professionalism, but for the nation it would be a better course."
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq placed unfair and extreme burdens on the professional military, especially reservists, and their families, McChrystal said.
Although I am generally opposed to conscription, I will make one observation in its favor. A draft, if it's done fairly, is a very powerful deterrent to military adventurism. If the sons of the rich and powerful were being handed rifles I guarantee you we would never have invaded Iraq.
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That's assuming the rich and powerful would care for their children as much as normal men do. There is a possibility they prefer the furtherance of their schemes over their progeny. The history of the modern state seems to suggest this may be so.
History of America, not the "modern state" per se suggests the rich will find ways to keep their kids out of conflict
The only reason why I would favor conscription would pertain to making more people intimately familiar with military-style small arms, such as the AR-15 platform.
Depends on the era. If the sons of the rich and powerful in the Middle ages had rifles, they'd use them to conquer more lands and build their fiefdoms.
Ingemar has a good point. I'm rather attracted to the republican idea of professors' and janitors' shooting at conquest-intent rich pricks. Serfs' shooting at conquest-intent rich pricks could have happened only by singularly happy accidents.
I'm all for the draft or mandatory conscription, so long as it includes women too. Equal rights means equal rights (and responsibility), not just when it's convenient.
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