Backdraft

Back Draft

Back Draft

The United States ended the use of the draft, also known as conscription, in 1973 after the Vietnam War. Since then, the U.S. has relied upon an all-volunteer military force. The all-volunteer force is now engaged in on-going wars in several countries that is spreading military numbers thin. Recruiting and retention of new troops is so difficult, our country will eventually have to re-instate the draft.

To help alleviate the need, the government has been keeping troops in longer than their signed and sworn contracts (Stewart, 2005), which is basically a draft already. If another event, perhaps nuclear threats from Iran, and other anti-American countries arise, the U.S. will not have enough service members to deploy; therefore making it a good choice to restart the drafting of civilians to fight for their way of life.

Some speculate, apparently opposing the draft, or military service, that the United States is fine, meeting recruitment numbers and retaining plenty of troops. On the contrary, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report states:

According to DOD data, the active and reserve components generally met their enlisted aggregate recruiting goals for fiscal years 2000 to 2004. However, it should