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Reilly Myers
Professor Fisette
English 102
7 Dec 2015
Volunteering for Optional Citizenship
One percent of the United States population is serving in the military over the age of 18.
The United States made the transition from conscription, or the draft, to an All-Volunteer military
in 1973. The First time mandatory military service was implemented was in 1775, when states
used militias to fill a quota. Article I of the constitution of the United States, is to raise and
support Armies and provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,
suppress insurrections, and repel invasions. When this system was in place, and volunteers put
forth by the state was not enough, mandatory military service was born. The point of the Army is
not to fight the United States wars. Alexander Hamiltion and John C. Calhoun created the United
States Army as a small peace time establishment that would serve as a great expansion in a time
of emergency. With that in mind, they thought if a militia was to be formed by citizens, they
would come to together and all men who can bear arms will fight. This is for citizen soldiers to
respond to in a time of need, such as a natural disaster, or an attack on U.S. soil.
The United States of America was founded in a time of war, as we broke away from
Britain. The founding fathers of the United States envisioned civilian soldiers to answer in a call
of need and bring the nation together to fight against a threat. Compulsory military service can
be traced to the colonial and revolutionary period in America. At that time states obligated
citizens to service in the militia. The first draft in the United States started in the Civil War.

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Then, the draft came back around in the late 1940s. Many adolescents dodged the draft because
they did not agree with the war. But certainly they agreed with being free?
The United States has a long history of being involved in battles that their American
citizens do not believe in. Although many disagree with the draft, the Supreme Court has ruled
that a draft is Constitutional. Conscription has worked in the past until the Vietnam Era, where
the draft seemed to show its flaws. Lottery numbers were determined by birthdates. Evasion was
used by those with money, or in college. Many volunteered to join the Army hoping to have
some control over their job and where they ended up. In the Vietnam War, 1,857,304 men were
drafted between August 1964, and February 1973, with a total of 8,744,000 people serving in
that time frame (NPR). The election of President Richard Nixon came with the promise of
ending the draft, which could not be more appealing to our nations youth at the time.
Now, the All-volunteer military is showing its flaws and being spread paper thin with
troops in the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Conscription, or the All-Volunteer military usually
comes at a time when there is political change. Fear has been known to produce more volunteers,
great speeches that call Americans to serve and help protect the country they love. Stop loss, and
the selective service system proves that still the government has systems in place in case of
emergency. Throughout history, the all-volunteer military has been the first option, as well as the
most appealing to its citizens, yet it has not produced the numbers needed to protect the United
States. The United States should implement mandatory military service for all its eligible
citizens.
When World War II ended the great depression in 1945, there was an enormous economic
boost for the United States. The unemployment rate was at an all-time low. The demand for
uniforms, vehicles, aircraft, ships, aluminum and steel helped employ more citizens in the

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manufacturing industry. The unemployment rate dropped from 13.3 percent of the population,
to a staggering 1.1 percent (Tassava). Many women found work outside the home with jobs
opening up, as men left to fight the war. The economy can benefit from young citizens joining
the military right after high school, with demands for uniforms going up allowing for more jobs
to open up for rest of its citizens. This will help the unemployment rate to go down with most of
the young citizens coming out of high school with a job for the next few years. This is where
conscription can help the United States unemployment rate.
In President Obamas 2008 campaign, he publicly supported the bill, H. R. 748. Bill H.R.
748, labeled The Universal National Service Act, proposes service for eligible citizens. The bill
was introduced in February of 2013. Bill H.R. 748 proposes that all persons between the ages of
18-25 perform national service, either through uniformed service or community service.
Exemptions include, No person may be inducted for military service under this title unless the
person is acceptable to the Secretary concerned for training and meets the same health and
physical qualifications applicable under section 505 of title 10, United States Code, to persons
seeking original enlistment in a regular component of the Armed Forces (Congress.gov). I
agree that mandatory military service should be implemented. Civilian service is a good
alternative to help the United States at home. In the article, Lets Draft Our Kids Thomas E.
Ricks suggests alternatives to Americans who do not want to serve. Those who choose to serve
get all the benefits, those who choose to do some sort of community service get the same sort of
benefits. Those who decline to help Uncle Sam would in return pledge to ask nothing from himno Medicare, no subsidized college loans and no mortgage guarantees (Ricks). This is for those
optional citizens and giving those who do not want to do military service giving back to their
community. Those who want minimal government can have it. (Ricks). Those Americans who

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would chose not to serve under the Bill or to serve in a time of emergency should not be allowed
the benefits of the government. This is a big statement but shows are there alternatives to serving
in the military that can help the United States.
An All-volunteer military is eating away at the United States military defense budget.
Enlistment bonuses, advertising, and contractors. Mandatory military service is cheaper once it is
up and running than maintaining an all-volunteer military. Retired United States Army General
Laich who writes in his book Skin in the Game Poor Kids and Patriot the all-volunteer force
can be paid greater with more benefits offered to each service member because the number of
service members are so low (Laich). One percent of the population is servicing in the military
now and throughout the war, the government has had to contract jobs out normally done by
military personnel. Contractors are hired to do a number of jobs that require them to work
closely with the military. The military has been using contractors throughout history but never at
this high of a ratio. These contractors are paid twice as much as well as work fewer hours than
military personnel. General Laich states Substituting highly paid contractors motivated by profit
rather than patriotism weakens the military and leads to waste, fraud, and abuse. (Laich) This is
a big indicator that an all-volunteer military is not meeting the recruits needed. More money is
being put towards contractors. Contractors can cause a lot of problems including those
mentioned by Laich because contractors are not subject to the same rules or standard of
operations as service members. Standard of operations are rules on how the military handles
different situations in the combat zone whereas the contractors do not necessarily have to follow
those rules. In 2007, contractors working for Blackwater security killed seventeen civilians and
where not even taken to trial because of jurisdiction conflict (Laich). These contractors have no
consequences for actions they are not held to the same standard as military members under the

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Uniformed Code of Military Justice. Contractors can cause a bad reputation between civilians
and the military making the military jobs harder. These situations can cause problems for
commanders who are working with contractors. Contractors also help take away service
members from staying in the military another factor in the retention problem. Contractors do the
same job as service members but get paid twice as much with that prospect most service
members leave the service when contract is up to work for contractors.
Enlistment bonuses are another problem proving that the all-volunteer military is not
attracting the number of service members needed. Enlistment bonuses serve two purposes, to
attract people who would not think of joining, and to get recruits to go into Military occupational
specialties that need more service members (Laich). This is trying to outsource to attract different
a diverse variety of people. The all-volunteer military is not working, with the war lasting longer
than expected. To attract the number of service members needed to serve, branches had to lower
their standards. Standard such as drugs offenses, high school graduation, and criminal history
including felonies. Prospects were required to have a high school diploma, but because of the
circumstances they made an exception for the GED. All these factors prove that money is going
to the wrong place in the military. An all-volunteer military forces the defense budget to be used
for enlistment bonus and contractors because of the shortage of service members.
Stop loss is an extension of an armed force members service involuntarily. Stop loss is a
draft within the military. There is skilled based and unit based stop loss. Skilled based is retain
selected personal with special skills, such as a certain Military occupational specialty. Unit based
is used to maintain strength and a since of unity. In a military report U.S. Military Stop Loss
Program: Key Questions and Answers explains that stop loss the president may suspend any
provision of law relating to the promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of

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the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United
States. (Henning). The President is the only one who can suspend the contract and call a case of
emergency. The United States Army continues to use this stop loss which only effects about 1
percent of the United States Army. If a service members separation date falls within 90 days of
deployment, they are subject to stop-loss. If their separation date falls in that window, they are
required to extended and go on that deployment with their unit. This adds to the deployment and
90 days after deployment to separate for the military and get the right post deployment training.
A service member signs an 8 year contract. Active duty is 4 years active service with 4 years
inactive service. Active duty is where service members work full time job. The Reverse is one
weekend a month and two weeks in the summer for training. Both are subject to stop loss.
Suicide rates between active duty service members and veterans have been rising since
the war at an alarming rate. In 2012, the DOD reported that 482 service members committed
suicide compared to 310 who died in combat during the year (Laich). Some of the causes for
this is the multiple deployments back to back. Service members are supposed to have appeal
amount of time back in the States before going on another deployment. All the Armys combat
brigades have been dispatched overseas has shot up from 203,000 to 500,000 (Thompson). Not
only have those numbers jump but many have been deployed more than twice as a unit. When
units get deployed this also allows stop loss to be enforced. Service members should not be put
through multiple deployments because of the short numbers produced by the all-volunteer
military. Service members are being punished for servicing. Divorce, Post-traumatic stress
disorder, and family can be other leading problems with deploying multiple times. Divorce rates
are high in the military with the constant deployments and the adjustment phase after deploying
can be rough on a family. Post-traumatic stress disorder is other serious problem with in the

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military and what most Americans associate PTSD with. All these problems will never
completely go away but with more Americans serving the number of service members will
increase decreasing the chance for multiple deployments. Also this will increase the readiness of
the United States in a time of emergency.
Along with stop loss comes Selective Service System. Tina Griego wrote in the
Washington post, federal law still requires men ages 18 to 25 to register for a draft that does not
exist (Griego). Many young men do not know that you have to register in the Selective Service
System. Failing to register can lead to government benefits being lost. California and Virginia are
some of the states that punish this failure to register at a very high cost. In California, the
Selective Service System estimates, men who failed to register were denied access to more than
99 million dollars in federal and state financial aid (Griego). The Selective Service System is
still in use because if there were to be a draft it would take two years and millions of dollars to
get it back up and running. There is a chance that if the President of the United States calls a state
of emergency, the draft will be back up and running. Its a sad day when young men are not
willing to register for the Selective Service System in case a state of emergency happens in the
U.S.
The other side of the argument is, that conscription is not needed and would not fix the
bigger problems within the military. Ron Paul, a former congressmen and a veteran of the United
States Air Force himself argues that the All-volunteer military is not only sufficient for national
defense, but preferable (Paul). War is not a popular topic, nor does anyone want to be forced to
fight in a war. Only Volunteers should be put in harms way if they so choose. Again Paul argues
that forcing a small number of young vulnerable citizens to fight the wars that older men and
women, who seek glory in military victory without themselves being exposed to danger,

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promote (Paul). Most service members do not join the military to fight for their country, nor
have ever even shot a firearm. Government officials that have no military experience do not
know how to use the military. Optional citizenship is the problem with having an all-volunteer
force. Only those people who are willing to fight are required to that puts no experience in the
government to command a military. The big reasons are the enlistment bonus, educational
benefits, and job security. The military appeals to those kids stuck in a small town who want to
get out or feel they have no other option that would give them what the military offers.
Mandatory military service would improve the quality of our military as well as add to
numbers needed to man the military. Authors Thompson and Zarbriskie, of the article Does The
U.S. Need The Draft? quote in there article that L. Paul Bremer III we never had enough
troops on the ground he is referring to the war in Iraq. The military is spread thin with service
members deployed to more than 120 countries in the world. (Thompson and Zarbriskie). An allvolunteer military allows services to be more selective in the recruits they choose. Restrictions
on education, weight standards, morals. Moral as in a criminal history or drug usage. The allvolunteer military does give the military to choose and sign who they would like in the military.
This also limits people from considering the military. Mandatory military service will bring in
all intelligence levels, which could improve those hard to fill Military Occupational Specialtys,
or MOS. Filling these MOS could improve the overall military with stronger intelligence, special
forces, and many others. Having more of a range of selection can improve the quality of service
members that are hard to recruit in an all-volunteer military. Contractors would no longer be
needed to do jobs that can be done in the military. An all-volunteer military who join for the
intelligence, Special Forces, or any other job usually leave the military to join the contractors,
this is taking away from the military.

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Money should not determine who fights for freedom. William Galston, describes his
definition of the term, optional citizenship. The belief that being a citizen involves rights
without responsibilities and that we need do for our country only that which we choose
(Galston). Young kids trying to get out of small towns with the military appealing to those who
feel that nothing else could work. The military promises many benefits such as college
assistance, job security, and health care for members and their families. Only one percent of the
population services. Most of these service members are from low income families. National
service would make government officials think twice about going to war with family members
being in the required to service. This mind set is diffusion of responsibility someone else will do
it. William A. Galston, an adviser to President Clinton for Domestic policy states it is a citizens
due in the past, we have regarded military service as a responsibility of citizenship. (Galston)
Many other laws are required of citizens such as jury duty.
An all-volunteer military is not working for the United States. Mandatory military service
would bring in a better verity of citizens who could improve the quality of the military. Filling
the hard to find MOSs and improving the diversity of the military. A bill already supported by
President Obama and Selective Service System still in place in case of an emergency. The
founding fathers of the Constitution in placed Article I to have citizen soldiers that would be
brought together in a time of emergency. The all-volunteer military now is running out of money
and cost more money to keep in place then mandatory military service. This would eliminate the
need for enlistment bonuses, advertisement and the need for contractors. Contractors who are
overpaid and service members usually go to after their military contract is up. The flaws in an
all-volunteer service become clearer in a time of war, and as well as in peace time with the need
for service members. Major downsizing has to happen in most of the branches especially the

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smaller branches such as the Marine Corps. This leaves many Marines with no other option but
to get out, many want to continue serving but are being forced out. Mandatory military service
would improve the military and the way the government thinks about getting into a war or
involved in another countrys affairs. Mandatory military service would give our future
government officials the military experience to lead and understand the military, giving them a
better understanding of how and when to use the military. A bill has already been proposed to the
Government and citizens need to remember what the military was originally meant for citizen
soldiers. Citizen soldiers to answer the call in the time of emergency.

Work Cited

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By the Numbers: Todays Military. NPR. (2010). Web. 17 Oct. 2015
Galston, William A. Compulsory National Service would Strengthen American Citizenship.
U.S. News & World Report 10 2010: 1. ProQuest. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Griego, Tina. "America may never have a draft again. But we're still punishing low-income men
for not registering." The Washington Post (2014).
Henning, Charles. U.S Military Stop Loss Program: Key Questions and Answers. July 10,
2009 Congressional Research Service. 7-5700
Laich, Major General (Ret.) Dennis. Skin in The Game Poor Kids And Patriots . Blooington :
iUniverse , 2013.
Library of Congress. HR 748. Washington. GPO. (2013) Web. 18 Oct. 2015
Paul, Ron. "Should The All-Volunteer Force Be Replaced By Universal Mandatory National
Service? Con." Congressional Digest 85.7 (2006): 207-215. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
Poutvaara, Panu, and Andreas Wagener. "ENDING MILITARY CONSCRIPTION*." DICE
Report 9.2 (2011): 36-43. ProQuest. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Ricks, Thomas E. "Lets Draft Our Kids." The New York Times 2015:
Tassave, Christopher. The American Economy at War. Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Oct. 2015
Thompson, Mark, and Phil Zarbriskie. Does The U.S. Need The Draft? Time 164.16 (2004):
54-62. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

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