I support the idea of reinstituting the draft.
I admit that i have zero practical experience in the matter (my father and uncles and grandparent's all served during various wartimes, and my mom was an "army-brat" of a careerist, but all the service had ended before my memory), but I don't think that is the only basis on which to have a valid point of view.
That said, my view is not very firm or researched, and it is quite open to be swayed by constructive arguements... but it is my current view.
I agree with Dude, I think it is dangerous to have a large portion of the country isolated from both the experience and the costs of serving in the military. There are MANY different ways to serve the country, and I'm not going to argue that a USAID worker on the ground in DR-Congo is any less worthy of respect and admiration than a soldier on the ground in DR-Congo serving in our UN mission or defending our embasies. (other I believe OTHERS might...) But the military IS crucial and it IS unique. To have it be completely voluntary serves to isolate it to a degree from the rest of our society. By self selection bias there is a danger that the people that serve in the military will become more and more insolar and like each other, and less and less like the greater society on the whole (I am not saying that this HAS happened..yet, just that it is a very real danger). Also, the reverse of this is that the portion of society that does NOT have a military connection will also become more and more isolated from what military actually means, both in terms of experience and real COSTS of serving (you know, little things like missing extremeties, death, and night terrors).
Our military is an intregal part of our society, and NEED to be both representative of it and well represented by it. Otherwise it becomes a mercenary force, and the thinking both within a mercenary force, and how to USE a mercenary force are VASTLY different than the thinking that takes place when your own sons or brothers and sisters (not to mention yourselves) are moving in and out of the equation.
the other factors Dude mentioned are, to varying degrees, anciliary benefits... but equivelent to choosing a job based on whether or not you get MLK day off-- nice to have, but neither a deal maker nor a deal breaker.
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