But I'm 4F, honest!

Many people don't know this, but I tried to join the military service in my early twenties.  I was not in a position to continue with my education (finances) and was at a pretty much deadend job.  I looked at my options, and felt joining the military gave me a chance to gain job training I did not have access to at that time.

I guess I was of the mindset that if everything went wrong in life, I could always join the military.  It was my mental fallback when things go really tough.  If all else fails, become a soldier!

What I wanted, more than anything, was to become a pilot.  Not a fighter pilot, but something that would translate into civilian service.  Something that took patience and care.  I wanted to become a pilot for a midair refueling plane!  One of those huge planes used to refuel B52 bombers.

I marched down to the recruitment board to sign up.  They looked over their desk at this pimply fat kid and said, "no thanks.  got to lose that flab first.  you'll never pass the physical."  I was crushed.  The military didn't even want me!

Now I'm too old to join, and I'm at a place in life where joining the military is a bad choice.  First, there is the insane doctrine we have now.  I'd end up on the front line in Iraq or Afganistan.  Second, it's a HUGE cut in pay.  Third, I'm getting married and have no desire to go overseas away from my wife.  And fourth, I'm at a good place in life and the training I would get from the military would be beneficial to my career.

In my twenties, we saw the collapsed of the soviet union and the dominance of US policy take place.  We had a spectacular victory in the Gulf War 1.0, which saw recruitment soar.  Now, with the quagmire of Gulf War 2.1, recruitment is at a dangerous low.  We aren't recruiting enough boys to replace the fodder we are throwing at the insurgants.  And our youth deserve much more than to be the victims of a failed war policy.  Why we went from being viewed by the masses from liberators to occupiers is a crime.  One which we are asking our youth to accept the punishment.

Now we are adopting a policy of "Involuntary Recall".  Servicemen who have honorably completed their tour of duty are now being forced back into service for up to four years.  At the end of that service, they may still not be released.  The military has a policy that if your job cannot be easily replaced during a time of war, then they do not have the obligation of releasing you after you have served your time.  In other words, you are stuck until they decide you can go.  It doesn't matter if you've met your service obligations or not.  This has been called the "backdoor draft".

As we increase the number of deployed troops overseas, the US military is finding it is not meeting its recruitment needs.  This "involuntary recall" will only be another stop-gap measure.  Since the war in Iraq will extend well beyond Bush's term (unless a Democrat gets elected and just pulls all the troops out -- which will make the Middle East explode into chaos), the US will need to supply troops for at least another 5 years.  Yes, we'll be in Iraq for a decade and we'll need more troops.

So how do we get more troops?  Recruitment will continue to ebb, and the stop-gap methods will not meet our recruitment needs.  The only option available to the US is to implement the draft.  More than likely a modified draft, but a draft, none-the-less.

My prediction, expect a draft to go into effect within the next five years if the Executive branch remains Republican.