Veterans Day 2009 finds our nation not only feeling anxiety about new battles looming in Afghanistan but grieving over the dead and wounded of Fort Hood, victims of what officials say is a gunman troubled over the horrors conveyed by war-weary soldiers, his mission as an Army psychiatrist about to deploy to Afghanistan and his failure to resolve Muslim beliefs and inner demons. But beyond these issues, what does this all mean for our nation’s all-volunteer military? As we prepare to again honor those who have served in the so-called “war on terror” as well as other conflicts in other climes, is it not finally time to ask if we as a society are truly doing right by those we send to war?
Has the time finally come to reconsider military conscription?
Talk with soldiers at Fort Hood and you’ll find some on their third or fourth deployment. Some claim they’re proud for yet another opportunity to serve their country abroad. Others dread it — not just out of concern for their safety but because they miss time with family, time at home.
Meanwhile, more and more of the veterans health system is devoted to treating those suffering severe mental trauma — an issue Central Texans are especially aware of as the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center redoubles its efforts to determine root causes of and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Last year, a Rand Corp. study indicated one in five military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffered some sort of depression or PTSD. The report said many don’t seek treatment because they fear the stigma might harm their careers.
The study estimates that treatment of those returning with PTSD or depression can cost our nation as much as $6.2 billion in the two years following deployment. That covers both direct medical care and costs for lost productivity and suicide. Official data also show that soldiers from Fort Hood have had the highest rate of suicide among U.S. military installations since 2003.
Some Army officials tell The Washington Post they don’t know how much more strain our Army can take — which, for all armchair generals out there, is probably one good reason the president is carefully weighing any troop surge in Afghanistan.
So do we have enough troops in our all-volunteer military if we’re having to send the same troops back into the faraway fray time and again? Is it fair to go to the same well repeatedly? We think not.
Manpower studies by retired Marine Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, indicate that of the 1.4 million men and women on active duty in our military today, only half are not in overhead jobs and are thus deployable. That’s why the same troops with battlefield expertise keep going back.
Some military officials say today’s all-volunteer Army is vastly superior in quality and focus than that assembled decades ago through the ranks of both enlisted and draftees. But other evidence suggests our military, including reservists and the guard, has become exhausted and demoralized by constant deployments and the scourge of stop-loss policies.
Beyond that, military conscription arguably makes better Americans of our young, gives them an investment in country unlike any other and teaches them valuable qualities such as teamwork, attention to duty and the meaning of self-sacrifice.
Americans like to scoff at how people in other lands address matters, but we should think twice of criticizing the Israelis, who bring something dynamic to their nation through the draft. Do they as a nation have a spark of patriotism, resolve and national engagement that we lack? Do we as a people have enough pride in country and concern for our military to even consider returning to the draft?
Poster Comment:
"Beyond that, military conscription arguably makes better Americans of our young, gives them an investment in country unlike any other and teaches them valuable qualities such as teamwork, attention to duty and the meaning of self-sacrifice. Americans like to scoff at how people in other lands address matters, but we should think twice of criticizing the Israelis, who bring something dynamic to their nation through the draft. Do they as a nation have a spark of patriotism, resolve and national engagement that we lack? Do we as a people have enough pride in country and concern for our military to even consider returning to the draft??
I hope the Nesters, DUers, and kossacks are happy. For "free" flu shots and annual physical exams,[ 30 pieces of silver] they sold out the lives of American young men ages 18-26.