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hey (not verified) says:
This just exposes Phil's ignorance of the military. Nearly everyone in the military with any sort of responsibility absolutely does not want a draft.
Never mind some concern with the privilege of the elite, consider the problems of a draft: fast turnover. Any serious draft, like Israel's, takes in everyone. No school exemptions, no parental exemptions, no fitness issues. Everyone serves in some way. This costs a ridiculous amount of money.
What we have now, a fairly high paid force of motivated, career oriented people where a substantial proportion of the force is long service and all of the force is on at least a 4 year hitch. This creates a motivated, skilled, and experienced force that knows what it is doing and wants to be there.
A real, egalitarian universal conscription or serious draft has a large number of people who simply don't want to be there. This creates discipline and motivation problems. A draft creates even more resentment at those lucky enough to avoid service or to get exemptions if offered (see Vietnam).
There are cultural problems with a professional military. Mainly we get an effete elite that disdains honor, service, valor, and country. If we could have mandatory universal service for 6 years or so it would be a great thing, as well as being deeply, deeply scary for the rest of the world. That would provide a military of about 12 million men, or 24 million people if you go with the Israeli true universal conscription model. We would need a serious defense budget, likely at least 20-25% of GDP, but we would eliminate most costs of prison, policing, welfare, etc. You remove the portion of the population that causes the most problems, have a serious manufacturing demand, and essentially eliminate youth unemployment and have a fully trained workforce.
With that kind of force, we can garrison the Middle East and South America as well as ensure Peace in Asia and Europe. America Imperator. I love it, though I imagine Weiss is horrified.
This just exposes Phil's ignorance of the military. Nearly everyone in the military with any sort of responsibility absolutely does not want a draft.
Never mind some concern with the privilege of the elite, consider the problems of a draft: fast turnover. Any serious draft, like Israel's, takes in everyone. No school exemptions, no parental exemptions, no fitness issues. Everyone serves in some way. This costs a ridiculous amount of money.
What we have now, a fairly high paid force of motivated, career oriented people where a substantial proportion of the force is long service and all of the force is on at least a 4 year hitch. This creates a motivated, skilled, and experienced force that knows what it is doing and wants to be there.
A real, egalitarian universal conscription or serious draft has a large number of people who simply don't want to be there. This creates discipline and motivation problems. A draft creates even more resentment at those lucky enough to avoid service or to get exemptions if offered (see Vietnam).
There are cultural problems with a professional military. Mainly we get an effete elite that disdains honor, service, valor, and country. If we could have mandatory universal service for 6 years or so it would be a great thing, as well as being deeply, deeply scary for the rest of the world. That would provide a military of about 12 million men, or 24 million people if you go with the Israeli true universal conscription model. We would need a serious defense budget, likely at least 20-25% of GDP, but we would eliminate most costs of prison, policing, welfare, etc. You remove the portion of the population that causes the most problems, have a serious manufacturing demand, and essentially eliminate youth unemployment and have a fully trained workforce.
With that kind of force, we can garrison the Middle East and South America as well as ensure Peace in Asia and Europe. America Imperator. I love it, though I imagine Weiss is horrified.