How the Draft has changed since the Vietnam War - Research Paper Example

? How the Draft has changed since the Vietnam War HOW THE DRAFT HAS CHANGED SINCE THE VIETNAM WAR Passed in June of 1917, the Conscription Act required conscripts to be court-martialed if they did not bear arms, wear uniforms, submit to military authority, or perform basic military duties1. Those who were convicted of objecting were normally given substantial sentences of at least twenty years, usually served at Fort Leavenworth. Secretary Baker created the Board of Inquiry in 1918 in order to ascertain the sincerity of conscientious objectors. Men found to have been insincere by the board for military tribunals tried various offenses with seventeen sentenced to death, three hundred and forty five to penal labor camps, and one hundred and forty two to life imprisonment. In the United States, conscription, or the draft, has been used a number of time, normally in the event of war, as well as when there is nominal peace, such as during the Cold War. The draft was discontinued in 1973 by the US government, which shifted to a military force that was all-volunteer. For this reason, mandatory draft is not in effect at the present time. The Selective Service System (SSS), however, is still in place for contingency purposes. Men aged between eighteen and twenty-five must register for quick resumption of the draft should there be a need for conscription2. However, most military and political experts do not consider conscription likely under the current conditions. The Military Draft While the United States did not initially join the Second World War, the Selective Training and Service Act (STSA) was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940. This required all American men aged, between twenty-six and thirty-five, to register for drafting into the military3. This acted as the United States’ first draft during peacetime, and it was responsible for the establishment of an independent federal agency, the SSS. Because of increasing threats from Japan and parts of Europe, President Roosevelt decided that it was prudent for the United States to train military personnel in case they had to defend the motherland. Germany had already invaded France and Poland, and it was becoming clear that Hitler was involved in persecution of European Jews, and Great Britain was his next target. In response to the distress that Great Britain was in, Roosevelt decided to sell more weapons to repel an attack by the Nazis, as well as to increase the humanitarian effort for the increasingly isolated British. On appending his signature to the STSA, he warned the American citizenry that America was caught in the middle of a war for her destiny with the distance and time that separated the US and Europe becoming smaller4. In his opinion, which was shared by a majority of Americans, it was not possible to remain neutral in a world of increased and rampant force. It was now up to the Americans to be prepared in the event that the war in Europe and the Asia-Pacific got to their shores The Americans were receptive of the draft after that impassioned appeal from President Roosevelt. Whatever resistance there may have been to the draft dissipated with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 19415. This event led to massive enlisting by American men and enlisting continued until 1973, both in peacetime and when the United States was involved in conflict, such as during the Korean War. Men were also drafted in order to fill the vacancies left by retiring or killed service men, which could not be filled using voluntary conscription. In December of 1969, the United States military reinstated the lottery drawing, unused since 1942, in Washington D.C.’s Selective Service National Headquarters. This was meant to determine how men born between 1944 and 1950 would be inducted into the army. This lottery was a change from the earlier method where 366 plastic capsules with birth dates, representing the days of the year, were put in a large jar, after which they were drawn manually to assign all men born between the said years with order-of-call numbers. The capsules were manually removed from the jar in the presence of TV and radio journalists. The first capsule had the date 14th of September and all young men born on this date between 1944 and 1950 were, therefore, assigned to the number 14 lottery number6. The manual draw continued until all dates in the year were matched to various lottery numbers. The draft was discontinued in 1973 after the United States military was converted into an all-voluntary service. The requirement for young men to register was removed in mid-1975, although it was later re-instated in 1980 by Jimmy Carter after the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. This registration is still in force today, although it is more of a precautionary measure in order not to underestimate the number of service-men that the United States would need in the event of a future crisis7. The Draft before and during the Vietnam War The previous drafting procedure had been perceived as increasingly unfair, especially because it targeted lower middle and lower class citizens8. Young men from wealthy families were able to avoid being drafted by getting college deferments. Some famous Americans who have been faced by controversy because of their deferment at this time include President Bill Clinton, President George Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, and Dick Cheney. Some of these young men during the Vietnam War wished to escape drafting. Because it was considered unpatriotic to avoid serving in the military, they preferred to sign up for the US National Guard, which, at the time, rarely sent its troops outside the United States. Since they did this through the use of family connections, there was a perception that they were using the National Guard to make sure that their young men were not assigned to the front line or ground action in Vietnam, instead getting the low-risk assignment duty back in the US9. President Bush served in the National Guard at this time, which attracted a lot of controversy during the US election campaigns. During the war in Vietnam and prior to it, those who had knowledge of the system and had the services of the draft attorneys and draft counselors were able to avoid the draft. In cases where they were caught, they submitted to induction following their indictments, at which point they were still disqualified for their earlier indictment10. Another way to swerve the draft was through obtaining a medical rejection, especially since the post-WWII draft laws required that conscription medical standards were not to be as stringent as they were when the war was in progress. Advances in medicine that happened after the Vietnam War, and which coincided with changes in the draft laws, led to an increased number of men being subjected to disqualification from conscription. Prior to and during the Vietnam War, those who got induction notices were able to change their region of examination and normally showed up at centers that were not in their home region or during a day, which was not their mandated examination date. This had several advantages at the time since those centers that were located near metropolis that were heavily populated and unlikely to suffer military review. Those who were uneducated and poor were usually drafted, unable to maneuver the system. Harvard University and other law schools, however, had centers where they advised young men from poor backgrounds to seek exemption and assert their liberties and rights not to be conscripted11. Timeline of Changes to the US Military Draft during and after the Vietnam War Richard Nixon, during the presidential elections of 1968, centered his campaign on ending the draft. He had become an avid supporter of an all-volunteer army, whereas also appreciating the draft was unpopular and that its cancellation as the best way to counter the growing anti-Vietnam War group in the United States12. In his opinion, young Americans would quit the protests if they were not stringently required to fight in the war through the draft. The US Congress and the Department of Defense heavily opposed this notion of an all-volunteer military. For this reason, President Nixon did not take any immediate action during the early part of his term to end the military draft. Rather, he instituted the Gates Commission. The head of this Commission was a former Defense Secretary in the Eisenhower administration, Thomas Gates. Initially against the idea of an all-volunteer military, Gates became increasingly for the idea during the commission’s work. The commission’s report in early 1970 was descriptive of how the country could maintain their military strength without having to draft. President Nixon and the Department of Defense, despite the expiry of the draft laws in mid-1971, decided that it was better keeping the draft for the time being with the President petitioning Congress to extend the draft’s period for another couple of years13. There were those in the US Senate who had always been opposed to the war and sought to reduce this by extension of the draft by one year, tie the renewal of the military draft to the Vietnam War withdrawal timetable, or do away with the draft14. There was an attempt to filibuster the military draft renewal in the Senate by Mike Gravel, the Senator for Alaska, which would have led to an immediate end to the Vietnam War. The draft renewal was eventually approved with an increase in military wages in order to attract more Americans to volunteer in the military. It was at this time that the Department of Defense began to advertise for Army volunteers on the TV. The last men to be drafted into the US military were conscripted immediately after the end of the War. These men were born in the year 1952, and they reported for military duty in mid-1973. A drawing was carried out for the determination of conscription priority numbers for those born in 1953, although it was announced in February of 1973 that there would be no more conscription orders. From 1973 to 1975, conscription priority numbers were issued for those born between 1954 and 1956, although this was never carried out15. President Carter reinstated the draft laws when he issued Proclamation 4771, which saw the reinstatement of the US military requirement that young American men register for drafting with the SSS16. All men were needed, at the time, to register with the SSS if they born after January of 1960. The SSS contended that it sought to prepare emergency manpower, which may be required by the military, through the conscription of personnel with skills in health care and unskilled manpower. Forms for young men to register are now available at all post offices and on the internet. Failure to put register is a felony that can be punished by a jail term of up to five years or a fine of up to $250,000. However, because it is difficult to prove that non-compliance was willful, as well as the fact that prosecuting a defaulter is counterproductive, no one is yet to be prosecuted for not registering. Majority of Americans do not register, are late in their registration, or change residential addresses sans telling the SSS. However, if the federal government employs one, non-compliance may lead to loss of employment17. In addition, it can also lead to one being ineligible for college aid from the government. Changes to the Draft after the Vietnam War As discussed above, a number of reforms that occurred towards the end of, and after the Vietnam War altered the manner in which the United States operated its draft. The alterations were made with the view of making the process more equitable and fair for all Americans18. Unlike before the Vietnam War, people who qualify for drafting would have fewer reasons to be excused from the process. Initially, it was possible to get a deferment when an individual was a student who would prove that he was in college full-time and was, on course, to get a degree. The current draft laws in the United States allow only for college students to have their conscription postponed until the semester ends. If the student is a college senior, then he or she can have their conscription deferred until the academic year-ends, after which they must be drafted. In addition, there is more representation in the draft boards from local communities. New draft laws passed in 1971 allowed for provisions that membership in these boards to be as representative as they could be. The members of the board were required to be representative of the national and racial composition of the registrants in the area19. Prior to the implementation of the lottery as the Vietnam War drew to a close, these local boards tasked with drafting designated those aged between eighteen and a half and twenty five years as 1-A –“oldest first”20. This caused uncertainty for those waiting to be drafted for the period they were within this age group that was draft-eligible. Today, the draft would use the manual lottery system, in which a man or woman needs only to spend a single year as the draft’s first priority. This would be the year in which his/her deferment ends or the year in which they turn twenty. For every year after this, the draftee is placed in a lower groups of priority with chances of being drafted lessening with each demotion of priority. Therefore, the draftee is spared having to wait, for their twenty sixth birthday, to be sure that they would not be liable for the draft21. Some have viewed the draft as it is currently, as being illegal and fundamentally unfair since it requires that only men must register with the service. Most feminists and masculists are of this view, with the National Organization for Women passing a unanimous resolution that opposed draft registration for men only in 1980 –on the grounds of being discriminatory22. In addition, the Women’s Rights Project, which is part of the American Civil Liberties Union, supported the Rostker v. Goldberg case in the Supreme Court. This case was unsuccessful in challenging the draft laws that favored men. The United States Congress still possesses the sole right to draft females. Other factors that have been detailed as discriminatory in the current draft laws include residency and age, where the US military prefers draftees who are younger and only US citizens to be drafted23. Charles Rangel of the United States Congress made the argument that; the current draft ensures that men from less-fortunate backgrounds were more likely to be drafted than those from backgrounds that are more affluent24. In calling for the reinstatement of the draft as it was prior to the Vietnam War, he argued that this would ensure that those being drafted into the Iraq War would be equally spread out among social classes. Rangel picked up again following the 2006 elections by calling for a renewal of the draft. According to him, this time, it would ensure that the United States would not engage in wars of a pre-emptive nature like was happening in their war on terror in Iraq. In the current draft laws, there are those who believe that conscientious objection provisions are open to discrimination since they seem to favor those with religious objections, compared to those with objections of a non-religious nature. Mandatory service can be used as an alternative for those who base it on non-violence and peace25. However, it does not work for those who hold strong convictions regarding civil liberties and freedom. The last man drafted under the former draft laws was Command Sergeant Major Jeff Mellinger, who retired in 2011. He was drafted in 1972 when he was nineteen years of age and immediately settled down as an office clerk stationed in Germany26. Following the end of his draft, he was taken into the Army Rangers and, in 1992, making Command Sergeant Major. He was also sent to New York City’s ground zero following the September 11 attacks, where he was part of the first Army’s advance party. He was also the top enlisted soldier in Iraq during the war there and was deployed there for three years straight. By looking at his career, and where he started from, it becomes clear just how things have changed following his drafting. For instance, during his service in Iraq, female troops are urged to try out for female teams of engagement working in War Zones as part of Special Forces. References Dunivin, Karen. (2010). Military Culture: Change and Continuit. Armed Forces & Society Summer, 531-547. Golding, Heidi. & Adedeji, Adebayo. (2011). The all-volunteer military: issues and performance. Washington, D.C.: Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office. Schading, Barbara. & Schading, Richard. (2010). A Civilian's Guide to the U.S. Military. New York: F+W Media. Williams, Cindy. (2012). Filling the ranks : transforming the U.S. military personnel system. Cambridge: Mass. MIT Press. Read More