Everybody Fights, Nobody Quits: Can Compulsory Service Effectively Man the Military?

Sustained operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have created the perception among policy makers that a gap has formed between U.S. strategic requirements and our capability to effectively meet the manpower demands of a "long war", renewing questions regarding the viability of an All-Volunteer Force (AVF). With combat operations straining the Army and Marine Corps and a perceived compromise on enlistment standards, some claim that the AVF is no longer sustainable and suggest that conscription would be a better alternative to our current manpower policy. Proponents of a return to compulsory military service assert that a draft would create a force more representative of American society, would eliminate the growing civil-military gap, and fix many social ills by creating a sense of civic duty and responsibility among the populace. This thesis will disprove the claims regarding the effectiveness of conscription as manpower policy by conducting a historical analysis of the drafts implemented during American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam.

Author: Joint Advance Warfighting School

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: Apr 08, 2015

Number of Pages: 84 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: 1511636556

ISBN-13: 9781511636551