The draft and Charlie Rangel

Back in 2003, Democratic Representative Charles Rangel introduced a bill to reinstate the draft. On last Sunday’s Face the Nation, he reiterated his call, saying:

If we’re going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can’t do that without a draft

While Rangel may be dead serious about re-introducing such a bill, the likelihood of it going anywhere is nil. Nevertheless, it seems that this is the topic de jour so in response to a reader’s request, here’s my take on it.

I am old enough to remember when we did have a draft. From my recollection, those who served in the last stages of it were disporportionately the poor and the minorities. Like our president, I had a history teacher in junior high school talk about how he avoided it by joinging the NG. I distinctly remember him saying that NG stood for “Not Going.” Many disappeared across the border into Canada to avoid it. My own brother left the area to avoid the draft.

I enlisted in the Army Reserves in 1979 as a way of supplementing my meager resources while in college. Then, as now, not everyone who wants to join can. Working at the Army recruiting station that summer, we tutored potential recruits so that they could pass the entrance exam.

So while I understand the reason that Rangel says he wants to reinstitute the draft – to make the burden of military service more equitable – our history has shown that is not the case. So I see nothing to be gained by reinstituting a draft.