[goldylight]

Originally Posted by RobInKuwait

Well, I think if bush wins, he very well may have to reinstate the draft. If you crunch the number of soldiers in OIF/OEF against the large number of soldiers getting out versus the relatively few coming in, it will be very hard to maintain these conflicts for an extended period without either giving soldiers a major pay raise, putting the soldiers in now permanently on stop loss, or reinstating the draft.

we could always pull troops out of germany.

[RobInKuwait]

Originally Posted by rrgg

The issue was the (false) rumour that the White House was secretly taking action to reinstate the draft. That's a very different issue from whether the US has to reinstate the draft in the near future.

Actually, I never heard this rumor, I'm just looking at the number of manuever units in the US army and their deployment rotations (every other year). I'm also looking at the number of my friends and their soldiers who are getting out once their commitments are up or stop loss is lifted. The number is VERY high.

Originally Posted by rrgg

P.S. You're also not accounting for the forces the US plans to withdraw from other places like Europe (and has already started in South Korea). And you're assuming the US will maintain troop levels after the 2005 elections in Iraq.

Actually I am. Every major manuever command in Europe has deployed in the past three years, 1ID has twice.

Also we're not withdrawing from europe we're just reorganizing it to fit the new BCT structure.

Also a division out of Korea is in Iraq as we speak.

[RobInKuwait]

Originally Posted by goldylight

we could always pull troops out of germany.

1st armored was there 15 months and is going back in April after a 9 month break, and 1st infantry returned for their second year there. V Corps and III Corps were also there. The troops in Germany are pulling just as much weight in OIF/OEF as almost any other unit in the army.

[wastedwhiteboy2]

Originally Posted by RobInKuwait

That whole draft thing is ****ing scary. I can't imagine the leadership challenge of being in charge of a company of "soldiers" in Iraq forced to be in the army by the point of the gun.

there will not be a draft.

[snakebyte05]

Originally Posted by wastedwhiteboy2

there will not be a draft.

Most likely not, but the fact that it has even been proposed, I think is a bad move on anyones part.

[Matthew D]

really do try to get this in the right forum at least some of the time

[INFOHAZARD]

Letsee....

1) The Draft Proposal was first put forth by Charles Rangel (whom I have always considered a weenie) quite some time back as a form of protest because it contained absolutely no loopholes for anybody in the right age group- Senator's kids would be called up. The GOP pidgeonholed it until the right time (Rangel's protest message was forgotten and it was near the election) and then they publically stomped it to death.

Of course that means they won't have to debate the issues Rangel brought up whan they come up with their draft proposal after the elections.

2) The rumors started about the draft (before Rangel's bill) when someone looked on the Selective Service web site, and noted that they were soliciting for volunteers to local SS boards all over the country. A hew and cry went up and subsuquently the web site reported that they have always been soliciting for volunteers to local SS boards all over the country.

Say, I get an obscure rag called "Federal Practitioner." It had an article that noted the commision responsible for the plan to draft physiscians recently reported that they can role out the program and have the first doctors in uniform within 6 months of being given the word. So don't think for a second that there are not government bodies preparing to implement the draft.

Me? Since I started seeing the Fnords, I think Robert Anton Wilson of the Guns and Dope Party should be President:

The G'n'D Party Advocates:

[1] guns for those who want them, no guns
forced on those who don't want them (pacfists, Quakers etc.)
[2] drugs for those who want them,
no drugs forced on those who don't want them (Christian Scientists etc.)
[3] an end to Tsarism and a return to constitutional democracy
[4] equal rights for ostriches.
http://www.gunsanddope.com/

Ok, I'm still undecided about the ostriches, but I think the rest of the platform ROCKS!

INFOHAZARD

[INFOHAZARD]

Oh, Yeah. I love my pre ban FN-FAL .308 battle rifle. I don't use illegal drugs....

-Man, that PH ban SUCKS.

INFOHAZARD
If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny. -Thomas Jefferson