Draft proposals worry students

Just two days after his high school commencement, Rhett Gonterman joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a freshly minted graduate. His duties with the Reserve -- ranging from missions with Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, most recently -- afforded him the opportunity to travel the globe for a whirlwind ten months. \nYet it's a choice he made voluntarily. That is what he feels distinguishes a ready and willing soldier. It's not forcing young, unenthusiastic college students to don Army uniforms unwillingly. But that's exactly what a Nebraska senator and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee proposed earlier this month. \nSen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., floated the idea of introducing mandatory military conscription earlier this month in a committee hearing about post-reconstruction Iraq. \n"Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said in the hearing, according to The Associated Press. \nHagel made that statement less than a week following Pentagon authorization to extend the missions of 20,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. But a recent posting on the Department of Defense Web site refutes the claim the Bush administration will actually call for a draft. \n"Selective Service is not getting ready to conduct a draft for the U.S. Armed Forces -- either with a special skills or regular draft," the notice reads. "Rather, the agency remains prepared to manage a draft if and when the president and the Congress so direct."\nGonterman believes such mandatory service would undermine the integrity of the armed forces. \n"There might be a small amount of concern that certain individuals who are forced to serve for their country wouldn't perform as well as those who joined on their own," he said. \nSenior Derek Molter, a former intern for Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., advocates mandatory public service, but hasn't thrown his support behind Hagel's initiative.\n"If the decision was taken out of my hands and if I was drafted I would gladly serve," he said. "But it seems to me that in the heat of battle it is much safer to have one's back covered by a soldier who wants to be there rather than by one who is forced to be there."\nJude Melville, a former Air Force captain who performed tours in Afghanistan and Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, thinks the chances of Hagel's proposal garnering much more than speculation are "extremely slim," for reasons owing largely to the changing complexion of military operations. \n"The military is no longer simply about numbers of bodies being thrown at each other," Melville said. \nBut Melville doesn't count out the idea of the military seeking new recruits through more traditional means.\n"It's possible (the military) will significantly step up recruitment efforts -- and, just as importantly, restructure retention efforts."\nAndy Fisher, press secretary for Lugar's Washington offices, said Lugar "does not feel that draft reinstatement is necessary." Lugar currently serves as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also served in the U.S. Navy from 1957 to 1960. \nThat's a sentiment that seems to be shared among many Congressional leaders. Mike DuBois, legislative assistant in charge of military issues for Sen. Kit Bond R-Mo., said Bond is also opposed to reinstating conscription. \n"Since military conscription ended more than 30 years ago, voluntary armed services have successfully fulfilled the military needs of the United States," DuBois said. \nArmy ROTC Major Heath Dunbar, who preferred to be quoted as speaking from a personal, not Army, perspective, said the cost of a draft would likely outweigh the benefits. \n"As a commander, I always found that it was challenging enough to manage the troops within my unit, and they were all volunteers," Dunbar said. "Each was still an individual with all of the personality traits, family concerns and other issues that we all have."\nStill, morale issues may not always win out against the numbers game. In a January 2004 PBS documentary, "Growing the Military," claimed current troop levels are a third less than the U.S. had enlisted in the 1991 Persian Gulf crisis, and U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Vines told PBS correspondents the Army's resources were "stretched extraordinarily thin."\nBut for seasoned serviceman Melville, reinstating conscription would require a collective, nationwide effort. \n"If we've decided as a nation to institute a draft, then that means hopefully we've had a national dialogue (and) we've decided the fight is worth it," Melville said. "There's no doubt in my mind what team I'm on."\n-- Contact senior writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.