by Renee Asher

Created on: December 29, 2007   Last Updated: September 09, 2008

The US military has so many protections set up to prevent the need for a draft, the very idea that it is imminent now, or will be in the near future, is near ludicrous. The reserves and National Guard are nowhere near taxed, and in addition to that, every service member is required to fulfill a certain amount of time in the "Inactive Ready Reserves" when their contract ends. This requires no actual military work, per se, but the military may call on a service member at any time when they are still on IRR status.

In order for the whole of the reserve, the National Guard and the IRR to be called up for duty, and the US military to still come up so short that the draft would have to be initiated, we would have to be involved in an all out world war, and even then, it would be very difficult to see the entire military being taxed out.

People with little knowledge of the inner workings of the US military may find it hard to believe that despite the news reports there are people actively serving in the military right now, in the midst of this war who have not been deployed. There are Marines, soldiers and sailors who have performed whole contracts without seeing the sands of Iraq or the rocky terrain of Afghanistan. In the event that the current deployment tempo could not keep up with the demands of the conflicts we are involved in, the military would very simply, deploy those who have not gone yet. If that was still not enough, reservist is jobs that perhaps went unneeded in Iraq previously would be retrained to fill the spots that were required and deployed as well.

In the very unlikely event that all of those service men and women were still not enough to combat the threat, the IRR would likely be called back en masse. They would be given quick refresher courses and/or retrained in new job specialties and sent overseas.

While all of this was occurring, we would likely see heavy recruiting, large enlistment bonuses, reminders of benefits like the Montgomery GI Bill and the VA Loans available to service members. The age limits would rise and you would most likely see a lot of Gulf War veterans who are "too old" to re-enlist race to fill the ranks, and drawn by bonuses, or money for college, you would see many middle and lower class young adults answer the call as well.

Being a member of the military I find it very difficult to imagine a situation that would require so many more service members than are available. It seems unfathomable that in any time in the foreseeable future, the US citizens will be hearing any serious talk about reinstating the draft.

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