Talk of draft making many 'real nervous'

By Frank Oliveri
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Eighteen-year-old Ravi Mohandie has a plan for his life.

University of Hawai'i student Ravi Mohandie, 18, says his career plans do not include a contingency for being drafted. Talk of a draft persists across the nation despite the Pentagon's opposal to such a plan. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Nowhere in his plan is the possibility of being drafted for military service.

"I already know where I want to go with my life and that would completely change it," he said. "It makes me real nervous."

In college dorms, Internet chat rooms and the halls of Congress, Americans are debating whether the nation needs a draft to increase the size of the armed forces.

The talk has been fueled by the escalating conflict in Iraq, recent announcements that some reservists and National Guard members would have to extend their duty, and the Selective Service's recent call to fill vacancies on local draft boards.

Selective Service, which administers the draft, has said filling vacancies is routine and tried to calm the chatter with a note on its Web site: "Notwithstanding recent stories in the news media and on the Internet, Selective Service is not getting ready to conduct a draft for the U.S. Armed Forces."

Proponents of a draft say it's needed because the military has more commitments than it can handle. They say a draft would spread the burden of military service across socioeconomic groups.

But Pentagon officials are adamantly opposed to the draft, saying the military has the personnel it needs and that a professional, volunteer army performs better and is less costly to train in the long run. They are also concerned that a draft would cause morale to plummet.

"There were a lot of difficulties with the draft, as people may recall," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week.

Poll results

Just before the Iraq war, support for the draft was at 27 percent.

The poll also found that young people were least likely to support a draft.

"We grew up our whole lives hearing our parents say, 'Thank God you don't have to worry about the draft,' " said Jeff Graham, a 19-year-old University of North Florida student. "Now we have to worry about it."

In early 2003, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a Korean War veteran, and Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., a World War II veteran, proposed a national draft of men and women for military service and civil positions such as teaching, law enforcement or homeland security.

Few in Congress, however, support the idea.

"If the vote were taken today, it would fail," said Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, who received the nation's highest medal for valor for service during World War II.

"Right now, it's not necessary," Inouye said. "Why fill our families with anxiety if we don't need to?"

Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Vietnam veteran, recently raised the question of a draft in an op-ed piece in a Nebraska newspaper. He argued that U.S. commitments were beginning to stretch the military thin.

In addition to 135,000 troops in Iraq, the United States has 14,000 in Afghanistan, 37,000 in South Korea and 250,000 handling peacekeeping missions and other commitments across the globe.

About 20,000 reservists and National Guard members were forced to extend their tour in Iraq by at least 90 days when fighting intensified in recent weeks.

"How long do you keep hostage the troops you have before you admit you need to recruit more troops?" Rangel asked.

Mohandie, the UH student, said he has friends in the National Guard and reserve who regret joining because "it is taking a lot of their time."

Plenty of personnel

The military argues that it has plenty of personnel to handle the country's commitments. Rumsfeld said that with a 1.4 million-person military, and reservists rounding out that number to 2.3 million, the Pentagon just needs to manage the force better.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are having no trouble recruiting. Through March, all four services combined are at 101 percent of their goal with more than 81,094 new enlistees this year.

Lexi Novitske, 21, a UH senior, said she suspects there always will be enough volunteers for the military if the benefits are good enough.

"People have different goals in life," she said. "I don't think a draft is a good idea, being a student that values my education experience and going into a career. That is what I have been working for all my life."

But Rangel argues that those who volunteer are sometimes poor or working-class Americans who believe military service offers them opportunities for education and training not available to them otherwise.

"The burden of (military) action must not be limited to any one segment of the population," he said.

Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Marty Antone fears a draft would hurt morale.

Antone just returned home to Oneida, Wis., from the Sunni Triangle in Iraq, where he received a Purple Heart for a shoulder injury he suffered when locals threw bricks and stones at him and other U.S. soldiers.

Antone, who in civilian life is a detective sergeant with the Oneida Police Department, expected to serve six months in Iraq, but that was extended to a year. His son, Dorian, was born while he was away.

Still, he said he doesn't believe in a draft, adding that he and other volunteers in the military wouldn't want to serve with people who weren't there by choice.

"I swore to protect the Constitution," he said. "I'd rather be with someone who in their heart believes this is the right thing to do."