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Abstract:
Last January, Rep. Charles Rangel (D, N.Y.) introduced the "National Service Act of 2003" to reinstate compulsory service for U.S. citizens. According to Rangel, the nation's defense should not be "the sole responsibility of paid volunteers," and "the sacrifice must be equally shared" among all demographic groups. Rangel admitted that the legislation was motivated, in part, by his opposition to war with Iraq. But, putting that aside, is the nation's defense better provided by compulsory service or by an all-volunteer force?

Military, volunteer, defense, defense spending, selective service, draft, military draft, volunteer force, U.S. military, armed services

Abstract:
The composition of the U.S. military's All-Volunteer Force (AVF) is not representative of the population it defends. But then, neither was the U.S. military during the conscription era; the very well-to-do and the highly educated have always been able to evade the draft. Maintaining freedom of occupational choice and relying on incentives to attract qualified individuals for our national defense is surely the most equitable method of procuring military manpower.

draft, walter oi, military service, impressment, kalamata, volunteers, mercentaries, manpower procurement, conscription, AVF, employee compensation, gender, accession, education, income, race, cost of labor, comparison

Abstract:
No abstract available.