No draft needed , experts say : Students concerned with prospect of leaving school
by Jason Holt, Reporter

    The United States is at war, and many people are beginning to wonder if the draft will be reinstated.
    Most experts say no draft will be needed because it would undermine "the strongest fighting force in the world."
     If the draft were implemented, who would be eligible?
     The draft would affect men between the ages of 18 and 25. The first men to be drafted would be those who turn 20 the year of the draft. Those who turned 21 that year would be next in line for the draft, then 22 and so on. This makes most college students eligible for the draft.
     In the past, full-time college students would be exempt, but that has changed. A college student may finish the current semester before joining the military. College seniors may graduate from college before joining.
     The likelihood of a draft is slim.
     Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, said there is "not a chance" that the draft will be reinstated.
     "The Selective Service System remains in a standby, caretaker status," the Selective Service reported in a statement. "The military is successful in attracting and retaining talented people in sufficient numbers."
     It would take legislative action by the Congress and implementation by the president to reinstate a draft in an emergency, the Selective Service said in its statement.
     "Draftees are what you need for a mass army when you are fighting a mass enemy in conventional warfare," Anthony Cordesman, ABC News military analyst, said.
     Zack Johnson, a South Campus student, did not think a draft was necessary.
     "I think that it would be a good idea, but I don't think that we need any more troops," he said.
     Because of the advanced nature of the U.S. military, it takes about two years to fully train one soldier. In World War II, when the draft was instituted, it took only six months to train a soldier.
     During World War II, more than 10 million people were inducted into the armed services through the draft. This period saw the largest of the drafts ever instituted in U.S. history.
     World War I, the Korean War and the Vietnam War also had drafts.
     Out of all these wars, the Vietnam War draft was considered the worst of all. Some wealthy people bought their way out of the draft, and almost all students were exempt. After the Vietnam War, the draft was changed drastically.
     Nowadays, students are allowed to finish the current semester before they have to join. Wealthy people can no longer buy their way out of the draft. If a person leaves the country after his number has been called, he is not allowed to return to the United States.
     Before changes were made to the draft in the 1970s, men were drafted based on their age, with the older men being chosen first. Now the draft is based on a lottery, and each person is chosen by birth dates.
     The Selective Service groups all of the name tickets into different age groups and places the names in barrels. The barrels are sealed and placed in storage until they are needed.
     "There is almost no chance that they're going to institute the draft," Cordesman said. "This is not the 1940s; it's not Korea, and it's not Vietnam."
     Rod Powers, in an Internet article, said, "For more than a quarter of a century, the U.S. military has been an all-volunteer service. During that time, the military has dramatically changed the way it trains and the way it fights. In order to implement a draft, we would have to change the entire way the military trains and operates today."
     John Cole, an ex-Air Force and TCC South Campus student, said, "We have a lot of capable people in the military and don't need any more. We have a very powerful Air Force, and a couple of missiles would do more good than more troops in some cases." Approximately 2.8 million soldiers are enlisted in the service of the U.S. military.
     According to an article by Carter Yang of ABC News, there will not be a large-scale ground war, so there is no need for the extra troops.
     In the ABC News article, Yang reported that it would be hard to imagine an operation on the scale of Desert Storm. There will not be the same kind of staging areas or the same potential uses of ground forces.