Quote:
Originally posted by marichiko
It depends on the over-all willingness of the draftees. The US army in WWII was a pretty good fighting machine despite the fact that it consisted largely of draftees. When the draft was used to fight the highly unpopular Vietnam War, the average GI draftee was no more happy about it than the rest of the country, and as a result, pride in serving in the military reached a record low point. My father chose to retire from the military after his second tour in "Nam, in part because he was fed up with riding herd on a bunch of raw and unwilling recruits. His comments about the men under his command in Korea (another engagement where draftees were used) versus those he commanded in Vietnam were like the difference between night and day. I think the military finds the draft as acceptable as its soldiers find it to be.
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different generations, different attitudes. all draftees are not created equal. being a draftee in WWII meant that you weren't in the regular army. the majority of the servicemen in WWII did volunteer. they went to war knowing that they didn't get to go home until the war was won. there generation was forged by the experiences of the depression. they knew what it was like to sacrifice. by the time viet nam rolled around we no longer viewed wars that way. war is now a conflict fought in rotations. it is more difficult to develop strong unit bonds with that type of culture, and even more difficult when people are brought in involuntarily. even more so now that the draft age generation is raised in an extremely pampered fashion. draftees in the modern US military are an extremely bad idea and professional soldiers recognize that they do not have a place in the modern military.