Why America Should Restore the Draft

• Author: William L. Hauser
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17695226
• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Subject Matter: Disputatio Sine Fine

Disputatio Sine Fine

Why America Should

Restore the Draft: A

Response to Liebert and

Golby’s “Midlife Crisis?

The All-Volunteer

Force at 40”

William L. Hauser

Abstract

While agreeing with Professor Liebert and Colonel Golby that the All-Volunteer

Force—which in 1973 replaced the Selective Service System (the draft) enacted by

Congress at the onset of World War II—has worsened the estrangement of

America’s military from the larger society and that this estrangement constitutes a

hazard to our nation’s democracy, Colonel Hauser disputes their notion that

nothing much can be done to remediate that hazard other than encouraging a return

to historical/traditional nonpartisanship on the part of active and retired military

officers, presumably encouraged by civilian political leadership. Instead, he suggests,

a return to the draft, within a program of national service, would not only ameliorate

military-societal separation but also provide a multitude of strategic, social, political,

and economic benefits to the entire nation.

Keywords

all-volunteer force, draft, isolation/politicization of military, long war, national

service

Corresponding Author:

William L. Hauser, 3200 N, Ocean Blvd, #1405, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308, USA.

Email: wlhauser@comcast.net

Armed Forces & Society

2018, Vol. 44(1) 181-185

ªThe Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17695226

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