Thank You for Your Service. Now Draft Me.
As we Americans join family and friends to give thanks this week, I’d like to offer some food for thought on the theme of appreciating sacrifice: It is practically a rule among politicians these days to preface any comment about US military (mis)adventures abroad by paying lip service to the sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform. In fact, I have little doubt that the vast majority of Americans, our leaders included, genuinely respect and wish to honor the service of those few among us who actually swear the oath, don the uniform, and put themselves in harm’s way to serve our national defense.
But I believe we’ve reached a saturation point of appreciation. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have been serving so long, so hard and so often, and are therefore stretched so thin, that repetition of the same hackneyed line, “we thank you for your service,” seems empty, and perhaps even cynical. After all, what have we—Americans at home, in business, in government, and in the voting booth—given or done to lend substantive meaning to those six words?
The answer is not much. We haven’t brought the troops home, so that they can enjoy the holidays (whichever they may celebrate) with family and friends. We haven’t undertaken a serious, comprehensive review of our military commitments abroad, so that our troops can be sure their missions serve the greater good. And we haven’t bridged the divide between Democrats and Republicans, or with our foreign allies, over America’s Global War on Terror, so that our troops will know wherever they are in the world, they stand as proud representatives of both liberty and the rule of law.
After six years of war, we must pay more than lip service to our gratitude. We must act to ease the burden on our armed forces, and to give strategic vision and moral depth to our national security policy. A handful of politicians, security experts, and even military officers have proposed restoration of the draft as a means of driving home the real costs of war to average Americans, and thereby mobilizing them to demand leadership and meaningful policy change from Washington. If each of us is equally likely to be called upon to serve, then all of us will agree that such service must be absolutely necessary for our national security, consistent with our values, and limited in time and scope.
Even among those who support a robust national security policy based on global engagement and judicious application of military power, restoring the draft has been a touchy subject. Most politicians are far more comfortable presuming an all-volunteer force can handle our national security needs. Yet the purpose of a universal draft is as much to guide policy as to fill uniforms. It will never be a popular option, but it is the only way we, the people, can guarantee our leaders make wise choices.
As we offer thanks this week for many things, including for the bravery of our men and women in uniform, we should each ask ourselves: Would I accept the call to serve, at any time or place, for myself and those close to me, if doing so would protect my fellow citizens from unfair sacrifice, prevent a future rush to war, and restore my country’s standing in the world?
I know I would.
Leave us not muddy the political and economic waters with spiritual truths.
St. John and Paul tried it and it delayed their Thanksgiving I hear.
But God Bless you for trying . . . you never know, the deepest truth behind anything is
worth fighting for, to know what it is, and keep stripping the mud of politics and self
economic interest from it.
“Bye bye Miss American pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levy and the levy was dry,
And good ol boys was drinkin’ whiskey and rye,
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die”
Don McLean
Comment on November 20, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
[...] Matt Rojansky over at acrosstheaisle.org has written a great article regarding our attitude toward the war and our troops. Here’s an excerpt. After six years of war, we must pay more than lip service to our gratitude. We must act to ease the burden on our armed forces, and to give strategic vision and moral depth to our national security policy. A handful of politicians, security experts, and even military officers have proposed restoration of the draft as a means of driving home the real costs of war to average Americans, and thereby mobilizing them to demand leadership and meaningful policy change from Washington. If each of us is equally likely to be called upon to serve, then all of us will agree that such service must be absolutely necessary for our national security, consistent with our values, and limited in time and scope. [...]
Pingback on November 20, 2007 @ 10:18 pm
The article by Matthew is a very interesting and mind provocative one. However, I wouldn’t totaly agree that balanced with volunteer army the draft is a virtue. While the draft works in Israel where the jewish people are always on the frontline surrounded by the openly or covertly hostile regimes the situation in Russia is totally different. The draft in Russia is sort of slavery though it is largely because of absense of any order and responsibility.
I believe that except for emergency situations the citizens have a right to decide what they are going to do and those who choose military service should fully understand what they are signing up to. This awareness may greatly enhance the professionalism of the military which is measured not only by military expertise as such but also by understanding of those in uniform which values they are going to protect so as not for example to execute unlawful orders.
And I am also not sure that the draft may solve the problem of unnecessary military engagement though the resentment of the draftees with such engagement may indeed be greater than that of the volunteers. May be the US politicians could reach this goal by limiting the power of the president to authorise engagement though on the other hand such move could hamper the ability of the US to act effectively where it is indeed necessary to.
Comment on November 21, 2007 @ 8:03 am
The question of whether to restore the draft implicates two different
sets of issues, namely matters of: (1) operational capacity and
(2) political decision-making.
On the first issue, it is doubtful that a
draft would actually do much to improve operational capacity, since
conscripts — except in countries like Israel where there’s a broad
and heightened national commitment to promoting national security —
don’t make as good soldiers as volunteers do. Indeed, the Netherlands
some years ago eliminated the draft and created an all-volunteer
force, and improved its military capacity in the process.
But a draft
could have a positive impact on the political decision-making process,
in that it would engage a much broader proportion of our population in
discussions about when the “national interest” justifies going to war.
I think our present political leadership has been very cavalier
about calculating the costs of using force, not only in terms of
sacrifices by American military personnel, but across a broad range of
issues. If the sacrifices were spread more widely, perhaps we would
all think more soberly and critically about decisions to use force.
Although in the end I don’t support a restoration of the draft, I wish
all of my fellow citizens were as thoughtful as Rojansky in
considering what the sacrifice of war really entails, and why we
shouldn’t be so eager to rush headlong into war.
Comment on November 21, 2007 @ 12:12 pm