BOSTON — No law has been signed to revive the draft, and the president, the Pentagon and the presumed Democratic presidential nominee all oppose forced military service. Yet as fatalities in Iraq increase and as troops see their tours extended, there is a growing concern across the country that a draft may be in the offing.
At summer barbecues, kids' baseball tournaments and worksites, conversations focus on whether a new generation will be called to mandatory military duty. Parents, grandparents and others are wondering how long America can rely on volunteers and reservists to supply a strong defense.
"I have thought about this a great deal," said Barbara Nicosia, who works in a bookstore south of Boston and is the mother of a 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter.
"I have a strong memory of the draft during Vietnam, and I don't like where they are going with this," she said. "I just don't like it."
Ann Stenbeck, a stay-at-home mother in Cohasset, Mass., has sons who are 14 and 11. Stenbeck said it was impossible not to think about the possibility that her boys could be subject to a new draft.
"We don't want it," she said flatly. "Even if they say they will make it a universal draft, when was 'universal' ever universal? So do we have any faith that it would be this time? No. Shouldn't we be talking about military downsizing -- or having one area of conflict at a time?"
America ended its lottery draft, based on birthdates, at the close of the Vietnam War 31 years ago. The system was rife with inequities, with money and social privilege helping many young men engineer an escape from military service. Others avoided the draft by continuing their education in college; some went so far as to have doctors attest to invented medical or psychological conditions.
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) maintains that an all-volunteer military is just as unfair. The Korean War veteran has introduced legislation to mandate two years of military or civilian service for all young Americans. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), a World War II veteran, is sponsoring a similar bill.
"A military draft has already been taking place, a draft of those in disadvantaged areas who -- for economic reasons -- must join the service," Rangel said. A shortage of jobs and the prospect of post-military educational benefits lure poor young men and women into enlisting, he said.
