Bad,... as in not good.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Twenty-one of the Army's 33 active-duty combat brigades are already in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea  and the Balkans, the paper said. Three other brigades cannot currently be sent abroad, leaving nine brigades, or 45,000 troops, as relief for deployed soldiers, the report said.
Currently we have over 140,000 troops in Iraq alone.

I see a peacetime draft coming...

[Entsuropi]

I see the US pulling out of its UN committments.

[Lieutenant Kije]

It wouldn't be a peacetime draft...

that War on Terrorism is conveniently open-ended.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

eek. That's far too much commitment. I don't want to go on here. I'll get riled up.

[EUOL]

No, there won't be a draft.  As I said in the other post, there may be a tax increase to pay for more troops.  I still think there is a large enough segement of the population who would join on their own if benifits were increased.  A draft is the LAST thing that is going to happen, especially with elections coming.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I don't PREDICT a draft. But I think you underestimate the difficulty with recruiting people. This is not a problem that can be fixed just by throwing money at it. Our military is barely staffed for the commitments we've made, and Bush wants to expand those commitments. He has some public support, but not enough for people to volunteer.

Money alone has been shown to be an inadequate motivator in the corporate world, and the benefits are already stellar. So I don't think that will work.

So where are these people gonna come from? Again, I don't think the draft is inevitable, but I don't think it's the "last" thing that will happen. Though I suspect that draft will be enacted in late Nov or Dec of 2004 just to be safe politically, if it happens at all.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Which begs other questions, like female parity in selective service.
(You've come a long way baby, now take responsability for it)

A lowering of the drinking age to 18.
(Well it turns out that you can die for your country, so now you can vote drunk!)

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I don't see many women being drafted, even if such a measure were taken. After all, women still are not required to register for the draft. and I find it highly unlikely they will soon. And when they finally are, it will probably be "women born after such and such a date will be required to register once they reach their 18th birthday." and "such and such a date" will probably be a few years after the bill is passed.

I also don't see the drinking age being lowered, though possibly military tolerance of drinking soldiers over seas might be extended. That's not a trend I've noticed in our country. If anything, even with the media expanding what they'll show and advertise, I think out country has gotten more prudish about the "rules" for drinking (even if we are expected to break them to a certain degree).

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

actually the only one of those that bothers me is selective service for males only. It makes sense that since sufferage was extended to females and since the argument has been made for equality and parity with men the ultimate equilizer in the work force as far a salary and jobs go is the US military.
I get really steamed when women I've talked to about the subject tell me that they are equal to men (a fact I dont dispute) and then say but I dont think the Army is one of those situations where it applies.

Take the same argument to civil rights and look at the storm of excrement you would raise. The draft (selective service) is all about taking responsibility for your participation in a democracy. Draftees are modern day hoplites defending the country from outside threats. While this may seem like a minor sticking point I resent that if I dont register for the draft at age 18 I can go to jail. Jail!
that really ticks me off.

[Entsuropi]

Here in britain women are barred from frontline combat duty. They cannot be infantry, crew tanks, or fly combat helicopters or planes, though i am not certain on the planes. However they can "man" artillery, drive trucks, serve on boats and everything else. The reason is that the MoD believes that male soldiers who see a female comrade take a bullet are likely to go to her even when it is inadvisable - essentially their reasoning is that the soldiers are too gentlemanly, which will smeg combat tactics.

They note that they have not done trails to assertain this, but then say that they are not gonna risk lives on testing it.

So, if a draft were to come, it seems fair that women would get drafted into non-frontline duty, but would be drafted non-the-less.