What an All-Volunteer Force Looks Like Today 50 Years After America Ditched the Draft – By Taren Dillon Sylvester (Military.com) / July 1, 2023
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Taren Dillon Sylvester is a researcher at the Center for a New American Security
Despite 50 years of an All-Volunteer Force, fear of conscription remains just below the surface as Americans consider the role of the U.S. military and their relationship to it. Today, whispers of conscription ripple across social media whenever it seems that the United States might be drawn into a conflict — after the 9/11 terrorist attacks; when Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani was assassinated; and following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Google searches for the “draft” spike following these events like clockwork.
However, despite what Americans experienced in the 20th century, the United States does not have a long tradition of conscription. In fact, conscription goes against the deeply held values of individual liberty and equality prized by Americans across the political spectrum.
A better understanding of what modern conscription looks like in practice and what it would take to implement the draft in America today would increase Americans’ trust in the military as a whole and contribute to healthier civil-military relations at all levels of society.
