As an Officer, my experience has been that I've had absolutely stellar troops, and painfully bad troops. THere are those who say that an all volunteer force brings in a more diverse and therefore better pool of talent, and there are those who say that without a draft the most talented candidates forego military service. I would say that there is truth in both statements.

I have seen some of the best individuals stay on and make careers in the military, but the smartest and most capable individuals seem to be leaving. My community of Officers is experiencing a severe brain drain as the ones with marketable experience leave for greener pastures. This is directly related to the bleak outlook for multiple, unending, forced deployments oversees to work outside of their chosen careers. Any volunteer is going to lose interest soon, unless the military can continue to throw sweet deals their way.

A draft would certainly change that, as are the truly unconscionable stop-loss measures the Pentagon is forcing. Here's a warning, however: While a draft will certainly provide warm bodies to pad the numbers, there is no more dangerous person in a unit than the one that has no desire to be there. At best they are a virus that will spread hate and discontent to other members of the unit. At worst, they can get themselves and others killed.

Of course, that's not the question. We don't hear a lot of people seriously advocating the draft. Those that do are actually trying to make a separate point, and one that is all too easily dismissed given the extremism of even proposing a draft. The point is that in order to be sure that policy makers understand the seriousness of their decisions, they need to feel the pain of the war firsthand. A disproportionately few Americans are making sacrifices to support this war. "Support the Troops" is a catchphrase that to most people means shelling out the few bucks it takes to buy a large yellow ribbon for their car. Nobody is required to ration fuel, conserve resources, or minimize consumption. For the most part, very few Americans have made any sacrifices (other than their Civil Liberties - but that's another conversation for another time) as a result of the war. It doesn't touch them, it doesn't concern them. Who even flinches anymore when they hear of more deaths in the military. Another helicopter crashed? More deaths by IED? Old news. What are Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton up to?

A draft would sure alter those attitudes. But it would be the worst thing we could do for the military. The best thing we could do would be to minimize our military responsibilities.

But that train has left the station, hasn't it?

I am pro-draft and leftwing. And here is why I think we need the draft to win this one. My arguments are both strategic, and economic. Based on evidence, total victory in total war requires the draft: it is what won WWII and few people would stand up and say that all those civilians were trash that shouldn't have been in the military. Our all-volunteer force, six years later, has still not achieved its goals. They are exhausted, frustrated, and know support dwindles away by the day. If the threats the US faces, and the world, is as severe as we are led to believe, then all of us have a duty to vanquish those threats.

Now the economics. You can dumb draft, and smart draft. A dumb draft would just randomly select youths and throw them into front-line combat roles irrrespective of their ability. A smart draft would instead make service compulsory, but where you serve and how you serve very felxible and based on a marriage between talent and military need. This approach, if applied well (like in WWII) would not damage the economy and would be like a jolt of adrenaline to all the military's missions and obligations.

As we know, cyber warfare is a big part of al Qaeda's methods. Combat geeks could take care of them. Ilegal finance transfers? I know a few MBA types who will be looking for work shortly. Courts blocked up, and all those Gitmo boys looking for fair and due process, law students would do the trick. Borders looser than a New Orleans streetwalker? Pack em with lots and lots of ivy leagure students. In short, we need eyes and ears and bodies thick on the ground all over the place to defeat the enemy. And you can only do that with a draft.

On another note, I don't actually trust volunteer force officers who seem to be more interested in protecting their elite fantasies than what is need to win. The 'few, the proud' are these day 'the exhausted, the frustrated'.

It is now criminal to allow this conflict to drag on for another fruitless, bloody six years with no result. It doesn't speak well of our generation that we can't vanquish an enemy far weaker than Hitler's Germany or Imperial Japan.