The Coming Draft

The Coming Draft PDF Author: Philip Gold
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 034549542X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
A frustrating war and an endless occupation. The very real prospect of more conflict overseas. A military stretched beyond its breaking point. The stage is set for the resumption of the draft. Now, in an explosive and provocative book, Philip Gold, a former Marine and a disaffected conservative, reveals why selective service should never come to pass–but might. In The Coming Draft, Gold charts the path that brought us to this treacherous point and posits an “exit strategy” for America to change its course. In candid language and through authoritative research, he uncovers the flaws of forced enlistment from ancient to recent times and suggests serious and more effective methods to protect the homeland. “Plans/reality mismatch” is how Gold describes the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war. This conflict’s deadly, years-long duration–with overtaxed volunteer troops–has led to the Marines missing their monthly recruitment quotas by up to 25 percent, soldiers over sixty being called out of retirement to serve, and in some cases National Guard tours being extended to 2031. Though the House of Representatives made a show of voting against the draft idea in 2004, Gold believes that a collusion of neoconservatives and liberals could eventually cause conscription to be reinstated. The neocon argument for the return of universal conscription rests in the expectation that American military presence will need to increase in order to combat the spreading threat of terrorism, while the left wing hopes that the revival of the draft will expand the scope of the debate about U.S. military policy, thereby making American involvement in wars an issue that potentially touches every household. Asserting that selective service has been neither effective nor historically validated, The Coming Draft provides evidence that the Founding Fathers’ concept of common defense differed from our own and allowed for “proper refusal” in addition to service. More damning, Gold insists that starting with the Universal Militia Act of 1791, the draft has been rife with demoralizing corruption and bad faith, whether it was exceptions for civilian slave owners in the Civil War or loophole-laden systems from World War I to Vietnam. Gold’s practical and innovative alternatives include the redefinition of service (to include earthquake and weather-related relief work), and a drastic rethinking of the duties of the National Guard. All this, he believes, must begin with setting limits on any president’s ability to launch an undeclared war. Written with an acute awareness and fierce intelligence, The Coming Draft is an indispensable work for anyone who is, or who might have to be, a soldier–and any citizen concerned about the future of our country.

The Coming Draft

The Coming Draft PDF Author: Philip Gold
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 034549542X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
A frustrating war and an endless occupation. The very real prospect of more conflict overseas. A military stretched beyond its breaking point. The stage is set for the resumption of the draft. Now, in an explosive and provocative book, Philip Gold, a former Marine and a disaffected conservative, reveals why selective service should never come to pass–but might. In The Coming Draft, Gold charts the path that brought us to this treacherous point and posits an “exit strategy” for America to change its course. In candid language and through authoritative research, he uncovers the flaws of forced enlistment from ancient to recent times and suggests serious and more effective methods to protect the homeland. “Plans/reality mismatch” is how Gold describes the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war. This conflict’s deadly, years-long duration–with overtaxed volunteer troops–has led to the Marines missing their monthly recruitment quotas by up to 25 percent, soldiers over sixty being called out of retirement to serve, and in some cases National Guard tours being extended to 2031. Though the House of Representatives made a show of voting against the draft idea in 2004, Gold believes that a collusion of neoconservatives and liberals could eventually cause conscription to be reinstated. The neocon argument for the return of universal conscription rests in the expectation that American military presence will need to increase in order to combat the spreading threat of terrorism, while the left wing hopes that the revival of the draft will expand the scope of the debate about U.S. military policy, thereby making American involvement in wars an issue that potentially touches every household. Asserting that selective service has been neither effective nor historically validated, The Coming Draft provides evidence that the Founding Fathers’ concept of common defense differed from our own and allowed for “proper refusal” in addition to service. More damning, Gold insists that starting with the Universal Militia Act of 1791, the draft has been rife with demoralizing corruption and bad faith, whether it was exceptions for civilian slave owners in the Civil War or loophole-laden systems from World War I to Vietnam. Gold’s practical and innovative alternatives include the redefinition of service (to include earthquake and weather-related relief work), and a drastic rethinking of the duties of the National Guard. All this, he believes, must begin with setting limits on any president’s ability to launch an undeclared war. Written with an acute awareness and fierce intelligence, The Coming Draft is an indispensable work for anyone who is, or who might have to be, a soldier–and any citizen concerned about the future of our country.

The Military Draft Handbook

The Military Draft Handbook PDF Author: James Tracy
Publisher: Manic D Press
ISBN: 9781933149011
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description
A complete, up-to-date sourcebook for anyone concerned about military recruitment written in a concise, easily accessible manner, outlining the history of conscription and how it has been resisted in previous eras. An essential resource for young people, parents, activists, and educators alike.

What to Do about the Draft & Military Service

What to Do about the Draft & Military Service PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Draft
Languages : en
Pages : 84

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Need for a Military Draft Prepare to See the World a Guide to the Selective Service System

The Need for a Military Draft Prepare to See the World a Guide to the Selective Service System PDF Author: Boz Hod
Publisher: AOM PUBLISING UNIT
ISBN: 0976686708
Category : Draft
Languages : en
Pages : 235

Get Book Here

Book Description
The need for a Military Draft, Prepare to see the world A guide to the selective service system is a book that both enflames and excites the community about the mentioning of reinstatement draft. Hod is working on his Jurist Doctorate of Law and brings fourteen years of research to the table. Hod seemingly gives the community an idea of his politics on the draft with a letter to the President that is at the beginning of the piece. Hod then takes the community on the swift sequence of events that will take place when the draft is reinstated. In clear and understandable language, Hod points out the information that should be known by all residents of the world. The need for a military draft, Prepare to see the world. A guide to the selective service system covers a diverse field of information . (1) the selective service lottery; (2) classification; (3) conscientious objection and alternate service; (4) how the draft has changed since Vietnam; (5) only sons and the draft; (6) men cannot register after 26 years of age; (7) who must register; (8) when to register; (9) quick facts and figures; (10) women and the draft; (11) Universal Service Act of 2003 (Introduced in the Senate; (12) H.R. 163;; (13) Characteristics of Active Component Non-Prior Service Applicants. The need for a Military Draft is a useful resource for those of draft age and their family members.

The Military Draft

The Military Draft PDF Author: Martin Anderson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 708

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Military Draft

The Military Draft PDF Author: Jason Berger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description
An analysis of the all-volunteer arm with pro and con arguments on the need for a draft registration.

Rough Draft

Rough Draft PDF Author: Amy J. Rutenberg
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501739379
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rough Draft draws the curtain on the race and class inequities of the Selective Service during the Vietnam War. Amy J. Rutenberg argues that policy makers' idealized conceptions of Cold War middle-class masculinity directly affected whom they targeted for conscription and also for deferment. Federal officials believed that college educated men could protect the nation from the threat of communism more effectively as civilians than as soldiers. The availability of deferments for this group mushroomed between 1945 and 1965, making it less and less likely that middle-class white men would serve in the Cold War army. Meanwhile, officials used the War on Poverty to target poorer and racialized men for conscription in the hopes that military service would offer them skills they could use in civilian life. As Rutenberg shows, manpower policies between World War II and the Vietnam War had unintended consequences. While some men resisted military service in Vietnam for reasons of political conscience, most did so because manpower polices made it possible. By shielding middle-class breadwinners in the name of national security, policymakers militarized certain civilian roles—a move that, ironically, separated military service from the obligations of masculine citizenship and, ultimately, helped kill the draft in the United States.

The Case for Compulsory Military Service

The Case for Compulsory Military Service PDF Author: George Gordon Coulton
Publisher: London, Macmillan & Company, Limited
ISBN:
Category : Draft
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Draft, 1940-1973

The Draft, 1940-1973 PDF Author: George Q. Flynn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Individual liberty is ingrained in American culture. Yet, in contrast to this cherished ideal, American men were inducted into military service under a system that flourished for more than twenty years before its rationalization was seriously questioned by more than a small minority of citizens." "Analyzing this paradox, George Flynn provides the first comprehensive look at an institution that managed to sustain political and public favor through two wars before dying out under a barrage of protests during a third. Placing the American draft within a historical context, he shows how social and political considerations determined the character of conscription in the United States." "The draft developed as it did, he argues, not mainly because of military needs or strategy, but because of political decisions initiated by civilians with nonmilitary agendas. Explaining why the draft remained relatively immune to political criticism prior to the Vietnam conflict, Flynn chronicles the draft's military and strategic successes and failures in America's mid-century wars. He shows how major institutions and lobbies representing science, education, and various professions and religions influenced it and how, ultimately and ironically, the selective character of the draft eventually made the system inequitable and helped cause its downfall."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Conscription and Democracy

Conscription and Democracy PDF Author: George Q. Flynn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313074194
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Get Book Here

Book Description
Finding the manpower to defend democracy has been a recurring problem. Russell Weigley writes: The historic preoccupation of the Army's thought in peacetime has been the manpower question: how, in an unmilitary nation, to muster adequate numbers of capable soldiers quickly should war occur. When the nature of modern warfare made an all-volunteer army inadequate, the major Western democracies confronted the dilemma of involuntary military service in a free society. The core of this manuscript concerns methods by which France, Great Britain, and the United States solved the problem and why some solutions were more lasting and effective than others. Flynn challenges conventional wisdom that suggests that conscription was inefficient and that it promoted inequality of sacrifice. Sharing similar but not identical diplomatic outlooks, the three countries discussed here were allies in world wars and in the Cold War, and they also confronted the problem of using conscripts to defend colonial interests in an age of decolonization. These societies rest upon democratic principles, and operating a draft in a democracy raises several unique problems. A particular tension develops as a result of adopting forced military service in a polity based on concepts of individual rights and freedoms. Despite the protest and inconsistencies, the criticism and waste, Flynn reveals that conscription served the three Western democracies well in an historical context, proving effective in gathering fighting men and allowing a flexibility to cope and change as problems arose.