Friday, October 01, 2004
How far away is a Selective Service Draft?
The timing for enacting the selective service requires some understanding of the administration’s troop strength goals in the Middle East and how far they have gone to stretch the existing military to meet those needs. The goals used in this discussion are the stated goals by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon. Their word has not been worth much in the past, but for the sake of argument let’s assume they stick with what they said.
Rumsfeld has committed the U.S. military to keep about 141,000 troops in Iraq through 2005. And the Bush administration is using every legal and some may say illegal tools at their disposal to keep these troop levels. But we are not in this alone in this war are we?
Well unfortunately for all intents and purposes, we are alone. Many countries within the “Coalition Of The Willing” have recently become “unwilling” to supply any more troops and are even pulling the few they did have out of Iraq. Bush’s failed diplomatic efforts and “go-it-alone” approach has caused other countries to either refuse or hesitate at sending troops into Iraq.
The following measures are some of the extraordinary means this administration has had to employ to keep Iraq from boiling over.
· The National Guard and Army Reserve have their deployments extended.
The National Guard and Army Reserves accounts for nearly 40% of the 141,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Their deployments have been extended to 15 -18 months.
· Former active duty soldiers are reactivated.
Military personnel who have fulfilled their active duty obligations were pressed back into service and 5,600 members of Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) are called back to duty.
· A “Stop-Loss” program is enacted.
This program compels soldiers to remain to the end of a yearlong overseas deployment and up to another 90 days after returning to their home base. In short tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the Army involuntarily for up to 18 months beyond when they were scheduled to leave.
· South Korea troops are transferred to Iraq
The Pentagon decided to draw more than 3,500 troops from South Korea to support the mission in Iraq.
· More Recruiters
General Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, said that the Army is bringing 1,000 new recruiters and they are using cash bonuses, educational benefits and choice base assignments to help meet its overall recruiting and re-enlistment goals next year."
All of the above mentioned actions have been taken since the Iraq invasion started. A lot of stops have been pulled out and the military analysts still say our military is stretched pretty thin.
To make things even more interesting the Pentagon has also recently announced that extended assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking their toll on personnel and they are concerned that people will not be retained unless tours are shortened. If they do shorten the tours of duty how can they keep troop levels up?
One of the only cards Rumsfeld has left to play (if the stated troop strength numbers are actually needed) is the Selective Service Act.
The Selective Service law requires that males who are U.S. citizens or resident aliens register within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Registration has been simplified. Up to 35 states now use the process of obtaining a driver's license as a means of making sure men are registered.
There are direct and indirect penalties for those who do not register. Men, born after December 31, 1959, who aren't registered with Selective Service won't qualify for Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans. More seriously a man who fails to register may, if prosecuted and convicted, can face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years.
The Pentagon has worked on a modified Selective Service program for a while now and has sent up a couple of trial balloons on the new draft.
One part of the recent proposal is the development of a skills database of all the men registered in the Selective Service program. Each registered person will be responsible to update his skills inventory. The agency also has in place a special registration system to draft health-care personnel in more than 60 specialties in a crisis.
If it is enacted, the government will use a lottery system based on birthdays and critical skills needed by the armed services. "Critical shortages" presently include linguists and computer specialists.
A second part of the proposal is to extend the age range of eligible applicants from 25 to 35 years of age.
A third part of the proposal of the new selective service is to include women within the draft. Although women have not been drafted before, many people in the Pentagon believe they should also be included in the draft.
Students will not get blanket deferments anymore. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his (or maybe her) induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. A senior can be postponed until the end of the academic year.
The Secretary of Defense has said draftees are not as desirable as volunteers but as Rumsfeld recently said about Iraqi elections in January. "Nothing’s perfect in life.”
Rumsfeld has committed the U.S. military to keep about 141,000 troops in Iraq through 2005. And the Bush administration is using every legal and some may say illegal tools at their disposal to keep these troop levels. But we are not in this alone in this war are we?
Well unfortunately for all intents and purposes, we are alone. Many countries within the “Coalition Of The Willing” have recently become “unwilling” to supply any more troops and are even pulling the few they did have out of Iraq. Bush’s failed diplomatic efforts and “go-it-alone” approach has caused other countries to either refuse or hesitate at sending troops into Iraq.
The following measures are some of the extraordinary means this administration has had to employ to keep Iraq from boiling over.
· The National Guard and Army Reserve have their deployments extended.
The National Guard and Army Reserves accounts for nearly 40% of the 141,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Their deployments have been extended to 15 -18 months.
· Former active duty soldiers are reactivated.
Military personnel who have fulfilled their active duty obligations were pressed back into service and 5,600 members of Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) are called back to duty.
· A “Stop-Loss” program is enacted.
This program compels soldiers to remain to the end of a yearlong overseas deployment and up to another 90 days after returning to their home base. In short tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the Army involuntarily for up to 18 months beyond when they were scheduled to leave.
· South Korea troops are transferred to Iraq
The Pentagon decided to draw more than 3,500 troops from South Korea to support the mission in Iraq.
· More Recruiters
General Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, said that the Army is bringing 1,000 new recruiters and they are using cash bonuses, educational benefits and choice base assignments to help meet its overall recruiting and re-enlistment goals next year."
All of the above mentioned actions have been taken since the Iraq invasion started. A lot of stops have been pulled out and the military analysts still say our military is stretched pretty thin.
To make things even more interesting the Pentagon has also recently announced that extended assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking their toll on personnel and they are concerned that people will not be retained unless tours are shortened. If they do shorten the tours of duty how can they keep troop levels up?
One of the only cards Rumsfeld has left to play (if the stated troop strength numbers are actually needed) is the Selective Service Act.
The Selective Service law requires that males who are U.S. citizens or resident aliens register within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Registration has been simplified. Up to 35 states now use the process of obtaining a driver's license as a means of making sure men are registered.
There are direct and indirect penalties for those who do not register. Men, born after December 31, 1959, who aren't registered with Selective Service won't qualify for Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans. More seriously a man who fails to register may, if prosecuted and convicted, can face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years.
The Pentagon has worked on a modified Selective Service program for a while now and has sent up a couple of trial balloons on the new draft.
One part of the recent proposal is the development of a skills database of all the men registered in the Selective Service program. Each registered person will be responsible to update his skills inventory. The agency also has in place a special registration system to draft health-care personnel in more than 60 specialties in a crisis.
If it is enacted, the government will use a lottery system based on birthdays and critical skills needed by the armed services. "Critical shortages" presently include linguists and computer specialists.
A second part of the proposal is to extend the age range of eligible applicants from 25 to 35 years of age.
A third part of the proposal of the new selective service is to include women within the draft. Although women have not been drafted before, many people in the Pentagon believe they should also be included in the draft.
Students will not get blanket deferments anymore. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his (or maybe her) induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. A senior can be postponed until the end of the academic year.
The Secretary of Defense has said draftees are not as desirable as volunteers but as Rumsfeld recently said about Iraqi elections in January. "Nothing’s perfect in life.”
# posted by Thomas @ 1:42 AM 
