LP/OP Tuscarawas Tom Nichols Multiple tours, lowered enlistment standards and involuntary call up of reservists -- 'back-door draft' --but you say everything was hunky-dory.
theguardian.com/world/2006/aug…
Reilly Denise Wu NYTimes Communications The New York Times Ah, yes.
NYT elevated “sighing” and wearing “earth tones” to high crimes.
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Mike Billips Reilly Tom Nichols Not quite. Green US soldiers were not quite up to the same standards but after some experience they were fine. And the US had to generate that army in a much shorter time period. Vietnam had the issue of the US constantly rotating in new soldiers.
Reilly Tom Nichols Also, draftees suck. One of the less known facts about WW2 is that US Army infantry (as opposed to elite volunteer units such as Marines, paratroopers, and Rangers) was inferior to the German and Japanese equivalents in terms of morale and ability. Even worse in Vietnam.
Reilly Tom Nichols I was in the loop for USAF officer training when Rumsfeld announced they did not need prior service volunteers in 2002. So I went on to grad school with the avowed intention of teaching military history. Many of my students are or were veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reilly Tom Nichols Dude guys lined up to serve, Tillman left an NFL future. There was no need for a draft. There was a need for body armor& armored vehicles. The damn blood lust was strong after 9/11 & a semi nebulous terrorist faction apparently wasn't a big enough target so we got yellowcaked.
Tom Nichols One of the reasons 'No one's had to fight who didn't join up', is because the war-makers wanted it that way. Rumsfeld was asked about a draft. He said we needed a 'professional army' by which he meant they didn't want mass civilian pushback when the casualties got bad. 1/2
Reilly Tom Nichols And sometimes monthly in war. Force projections, leveling and the SOF forces have never and probably will never meet what we wish we had. STOP LOSS wasn't because recruiting was hard it was because experience and training takes time. I was in uniform before 9/11 and after