Service Economy: First-draft suggestions for a real draft proposal.

• Position: Humorous treatment of United States draft policy during Afghanistan Conflict, 2001 - Brief Article

"FOR THE FIRST time in our history we are entering a war of significant size...without drafting young men to fight the threat," Charles Moskos and Paul Glastris wrote recently in The Wasbington Monthly. For Moskos, a Northwestern University professor and author of the armed services' wildly successful "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, this is an intolerable irony. The article's toldja-so title-- "Now Do You Believe We Need A Draft?"--is the giveaway: After years of arguing for forceful social cohesion, Moskos joins the long list of pundits whose pet projects (in his case, Tojo-era mass conscription) have been magically justified by September 11.

Sadly, there's even less to the justification than meets the eye. The armed forces show a distinct lack of interest in a new draft (an inconvenience Moskos chalks up to institutional rigidity), and arguably have reached a state of professional specialization that renders conscripted legions unnecessary or problematic. It's hard to argue that forcing the services to feed, clothe, house, and equipmassive new numbers of post-pubescents would have had anything but a deleterious impact on our ability to wage war in Afghanistan.

Thus, Moskos is pushing a free-ranging national service. In the spirit of team-spirit busybody and Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam, Moskos conceives an era of impressment for both civilian and military duties. If conscripts don't want to serve in the military, they can participate in civilian projects to be named later.

While Congress remains indifferent to the idea, a rogue's gallery of retired colonels and politicians has answered Moskos' call; and as the push for a draft gathers steam, we see looming administrative head-aches. Sure, the information society can never have enough riveters and air raid wardens, but how many kids can America really keep busy with homeland defense or highway median beautification?

Ordinarily we'd reject the draft on general principles. But these are extraordinary times. It's time to pitch in with some suggestions for how America's new generation of draftees can fill what will no doubt be their many idle hours:

* Man the Butterball Hotline over holidays.

* Provide discount dog-walking to the Dept. of Homeland Defense.

*...