Draft proposal is not expected to pass
By Emily Baker
Staff Reporter

A proposal for a new military draft that would no longer exempt college students, graduate students and women is unlikely to pass due to overwhelming opposition, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) said Thursday.

According to a press release on his Web site, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) introduced the proposal Jan. 7 in order to spread out the burden of war among all levels of society.

Rangel’s legislative assistant Mischa Thompson said Rangel based his proposal on a Department of Defense report that says in 2000, there was a higher percentage of blacks in non-prior service active duty than in the civilian population.

According to an Associated Press report, the draft proposal is not supported by the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or many lawmakers because enough people volunteer for service to fill the military’s needs and because of the cost of training draftees.

Granger said she and other representatives do not support the proposal because Rangel’s information is inaccurate. Granger said she based her opinion on a Pentagon briefing held Monday about the all-volunteer force.

Information provided by the Department of Defense at the briefing contains the same percentages as the report Rangel used to form his proposal. But at the briefing, the Department of Defense said retention rates are higher among blacks and that military service is spread out among all levels of society when the military academies and the Reserve are considered.

Granger said the military has enough volunteers to support its needs.

“If there is a need for anything, it is a need for more equipment, structure and that sort of thing, not more people,” Granger said. “The military is structured for a certain amount of things, and a draft would be detrimental rather than helpful because we wouldn’t have a place to put (draftees). We don’t have a need for them, so what do you have them do?”

Matt Moore, a senior history major, said it is unfair to implement a draft when enough volunteers are available.

“It is kind of an unfair comment,” Moore said. “It’s like saying, ‘We’ve got plenty of you, but you aren’t good enough.’”

Sophomore political science major Courtney Abbott said the responsibility of service belongs to every American. She said citizens should be willing to fight for a country if they belong to it.

“As a woman, I don’t really mind (the idea of being drafted),” Abbott said. “As a college student, I don’t want my studies disrupted.”

The potentiality of women being drafted is a matter of keeping military responsibility equal, said Hilary Estepa, a sophomore deaf habilitation major.

“Women have fought for equality, and if you want to make things equal, women should be included,” Estepa said.

Air Force ROTC cadet Byron Luckett said he is opposed to the draft in general, but he said he would be in favor of not exempting college students if the draft were reinstated.

“Students wouldn’t be able to buy their way out of service,” said, a freshman computer science major, Luckett.

TCU Army ROTC recruiting officer 2nd Lt. Brian James said if the draft was reinstated, it would be different from the last draft, which ended in 1973.

“Instead of replacing soldier by solider like they did in Vietnam, they would replace an entire platoon or company,” James said. “It’s a morale thing.”

James said the required service field for drafted individuals would also be different. He said draftees would more likely be doing homeland security duties, which only require basic training, since combat duties are currently being performed by Special Operations Forces and people who have undergone training beyond basic training.

James said a draft would probably not cause ROTC students to be called into active duty.
“To me, that wouldn’t make much sense because the business of ROTC is to make officers,” he said.

About 13.5 million men ages 18-25 are currently registered for the draft, according to the Selective Service, the government agency that handles draft registration.

Emily Baker
e.k.baker@tcu.edu