Is the All-Volunteer Military a Viable Program?

[DGS49]

Many healthy adults, even now after ACA, remain without health insurance, assuming that they will be able to "handle" any healthcare costs that arise. Usually it works out OK, as long as...[they don't get sick or have a bad accident].

This foolish attitude guides our current military strategy, with the same prognosis, to wit, it will be fine, as long as...[we are not forced into a Real War].

The linked essay ponders the original decision to go with an all-volunteer force, how it is working out now, and it hints at how it would NOT work if, say China or Russia got serious with us.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/01/28/does_the_all-volunteer_force_have_an_expiration_date_878344.html

I have always been against the all-volunteer Military for a number of reasons:

• We are raising GENERATIONS of young men who have no reason to give a shit about serious national threats,
• The military is more and more being drawn from one or two small segments of society,
• Military leadership (both Officer and Enlisted) MUST be challenged from within (e.g., by draftees, challenging how things are done),
• The cost of bribing people to join the Military has become overwhelming

Now, with the disastrous and stupid military Covid mandates, we have lost thousands of valuable soldiers and antagonized the rural "white" guys who are one of the main targets of military recruitment.

Having a Leftist Administration that tries to use the Military as a proving ground for their idiotic social initiatives doesn't help one bit.

It is fairly well known that all of the military services are missing their recruitment targets bigly, despite HUGE bonuses being offered to enlist for the combat arms.

Transitioning from all-volunteer to a mixed military including draftees will be a painful process in a number of respects, but this was a bad decision to start with and it is only getting worse as time goes by. The FIRST step is to recall those soldiers who were cashiered due to refusal to get the jab - give them some backpay if necessary, but we need them. Then some smart people need to figure out what to do next. Bring back the draft.

 

[Sunni Man]

I'm gonna say a big No to getting rid of the all-volunteer military and start drafting people into the service.
I was one of the millions of 19 year old kids that was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war.
Back then, when we got our draft notice in the mail. Went to the court house on the date the letter stated, were sworn in, and shipped off to basic training. I can assure you that nobody was happy, but none of us put up a fuss. We just learned the the job we'd been chosen to do, and performed it well. Served our 2 year conscription, were discharged, and went back home to resume our lives..
That's was just how young people back then were raised up.

But the mindset of the youth of today is way different, and forcing them by a draft into the military would be a disaster. It would be a monumental headache for the military for a multitude of reasons, and overall not good for the country.

A few years ago, I had a young relative that joined the all-volunteer Army and attended his basic training graduation at Ft. Jackson.
That evening there was a dinner and I meet many of his fellow soldiers.
I was very impressed will the enthusiasm these young newly minted soldiers displayed, and also was impressed with the level of training they'd received.
Two things sorely lacking lacking in the conscripted army I was a part of.

 

[Ringo]

Wagner commercial

 

[DGS49]

So your argument is that because today's Yoot are pussies, we shouldn't have a military draft?

Consider a dose of reality. We could be forced into a ground war in Europe or the Far East. It is not something we will decide to do in advance; we will be forced to do it on someone else's timeline.

And we will be caught with our britches down, so to speak.

It is precisely because today's Yoot is a bunch of pussies that a draft is necessary.

 

[Mr Natural]

Consider a dose of reality. We could be forced into a ground war in Europe or the Far East. It is not something we will decide to do in advance; we will be forced to do it on someone else's timeline.

Let me know when we're faced with a ground war here in the US and maybe I'll get on board with the return of the draft aka slavery.

 

[Mushroom]

Many healthy adults, even now after ACA, remain without health insurance, assuming that they will be able to "handle" any healthcare costs that arise. Usually it works out OK, as long as...[they don't get sick or have a bad accident].

This foolish attitude guides our current military strategy, with the same prognosis, to wit, it will be fine, as long as...[we are not forced into a Real War].

The linked essay ponders the original decision to go with an all-volunteer force, how it is working out now, and it hints at how it would NOT work if, say China or Russia got serious with us.

That is almost a nonsensical reason. We need to restore the draft, so people have insurance?

No.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Many healthy adults, even now after ACA, remain without health insurance, assuming that they will be able to "handle" any healthcare costs that arise. Usually it works out OK, as long as...[they don't get sick or have a bad accident].

This foolish attitude guides our current military strategy, with the same prognosis, to wit, it will be fine, as long as...[we are not forced into a Real War].

The linked essay ponders the original decision to go with an all-volunteer force, how it is working out now, and it hints at how it would NOT work if, say China or Russia got serious with us.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/01/28/does_the_all-volunteer_force_have_an_expiration_date_878344.html

I have always been against the all-volunteer Military for a number of reasons:

• We are raising GENERATIONS of young men who have no reason to give a shit about serious national threats,
• The military is more and more being drawn from one or two small segments of society,
• Military leadership (both Officer and Enlisted) MUST be challenged from within (e.g., by draftees, challenging how things are done),
• The cost of bribing people to join the Military has become overwhelming

Now, with the disastrous and stupid military Covid mandates, we have lost thousands of valuable soldiers and antagonized the rural "white" guys who are one of the main targets of military recruitment.

Having a Leftist Administration that tries to use the Military as a proving ground for their idiotic social initiatives doesn't help one bit.

It is fairly well known that all of the military services are missing their recruitment targets bigly, despite HUGE bonuses being offered to enlist for the combat arms.

Transitioning from all-volunteer to a mixed military including draftees will be a painful process in a number of respects, but this was a bad decision to start with and it is only getting worse as time goes by. The FIRST step is to recall those soldiers who were cashiered due to refusal to get the jab - give them some backpay if necessary, but we need them. Then some smart people need to figure out what to do next. Bring back the draft.

You obviously never served in the military.

 

[Zincwarrior]

Many healthy adults, even now after ACA, remain without health insurance, assuming that they will be able to "handle" any healthcare costs that arise. Usually it works out OK, as long as...[they don't get sick or have a bad accident].

This foolish attitude guides our current military strategy, with the same prognosis, to wit, it will be fine, as long as...[we are not forced into a Real War].

The linked essay ponders the original decision to go with an all-volunteer force, how it is working out now, and it hints at how it would NOT work if, say China or Russia got serious with us.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/01/28/does_the_all-volunteer_force_have_an_expiration_date_878344.html

I have always been against the all-volunteer Military for a number of reasons:

• We are raising GENERATIONS of young men who have no reason to give a shit about serious national threats,
• The military is more and more being drawn from one or two small segments of society,
• Military leadership (both Officer and Enlisted) MUST be challenged from within (e.g., by draftees, challenging how things are done),
• The cost of bribing people to join the Military has become overwhelming

Now, with the disastrous and stupid military Covid mandates, we have lost thousands of valuable soldiers and antagonized the rural "white" guys who are one of the main targets of military recruitment.

Having a Leftist Administration that tries to use the Military as a proving ground for their idiotic social initiatives doesn't help one bit.

It is fairly well known that all of the military services are missing their recruitment targets bigly, despite HUGE bonuses being offered to enlist for the combat arms.

Transitioning from all-volunteer to a mixed military including draftees will be a painful process in a number of respects, but this was a bad decision to start with and it is only getting worse as time goes by. The FIRST step is to recall those soldiers who were cashiered due to refusal to get the jab - give them some backpay if necessary, but we need them. Then some smart people need to figure out what to do next. Bring back the draft.

'Bigly' is not a word.

 

[Kondor3]

The All-Volunteer US Military is still the proper approach.

During any nuclear war, numbers will no longer matter.

During any conventional war, we have more than enough to defend ourselves during the early-to-middle going; between Actives, Reserve and the Guard.

And if a conventional war continues to drag on and we begin to exhaust ourselves we have kept up Draft Registrations so that we can quickly mobilize more.

We're having difficulty in paying for what we have deployed and enlisted now... we don't need to add more fuel onto that fiscal fire without immediate threat.

We will have time to mobilize properly if it comes to that.

I vote "No" - leave the All-Volunteer military as-is.