Prospect of draft worries students

When freshman Brian Litke turned 18, he filled out a selective service card, like the law requires every 18-year-old male to do since the selective service system was reinstated by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. At the time, he thought nothing of it.\nWith the conflict in Iraq showing no signs of ending anytime soon, and almost daily news reports announcing how thinly the military is spread, the possibility of reinstating mandatory military service has entered the minds of political figures and students alike.\nAccording to The Associated Press, Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry has suggested if President George W. Bush is reelected, he might reinstate a military draft.\n"If George Bush were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea and Iran and other places, it is possible," Kerry said, answering a question about the likelihood of mandatory military service last Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. \nThe Bush campaign responded, calling Kerry's statement "irresponsible."\nPresident Franklin Roosevelt created the first peacetime draft when he signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. From 1948 until 1973 men between the ages of 18 and 26 were drafted to fill vacancies in the military during both peacetime and war. In 1973, the draft was terminated when the United States switched to an entirely volunteer military. President Jimmy Carter required men to start registering for the draft again in 1980 in response to world conflict.\nIn January 2003, Ernest Hollings, a democratic senator from South Carolina, proposed bill S.89 to the Senate. The goal of the bill was for all young people within the country, including women, to serve a period of mandatory military service. An identical bill, H.R.163, was proposed to the House of Representatives by Charles Rangel, a democratic congressman from New York. \nProfessor of political science Gerald Wright said even with the occasional Congressman talking about reinstating the draft, he doesn't see conscription happening anytime soon.\n"The idea is so unpopular," he said. "Congress would not want to put into policy something so unpopular."\nWright said for the draft to be reinstated, the American public would have to feel strongly about the war, and he says the public does not feel strongly about the war in Iraq.\n"Right now I think it's a pretty bullshit war," Litke said. "I imagine most people my age wouldn't serve."\nIn a survey conducted by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 52 percent of Americans eligible to be drafted said they would seek deferment or refuse to serve. Less than half, only 43 percent, said they would serve.\n"I wouldn't want to serve," said sophomore Mike O'Malley. "I would probably try and get out of it, but if I couldn't get out of it, I would serve."\nIf the draft was reinstated, professor of political science Russell Hanson said there probably wouldn't be the number of deferments that occurred during the draft for the Vietnam War.\n"It would likely be an across-the-board conscription, without college deferments, and without exceptions for gender, either," Hanson said.\nHanson is partially correct, college students wouldn't be given blanket deferments. According to the Selective Service System Web site, www.sss.gov, because of changes to the law made in 1971, students currently in school would only be able to finish the semester before induction. A senior would be allowed to finish the academic year.\nWomen are still safe from the draft. The law specifically refers to "male persons," but that could change with an amendment to the law by Congress.\nWright said he didn't see Bush turning to a draft in his current term, or if he gets re-elected, a statement repeatedly backed up by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials who have said a draft is both unnecessary and undesirable, according to the AP.\nThe SSS's Web site is also trying to calm fears of an insatiable draft saying "Notwithstanding recent stories in the news media and on the Internet, Selective Service is not getting ready to conduct a draft for the U.S. Armed Forces -- either with a special skills or regular draft. Further, both the President and the Secretary of Defense have stated on more than one occasion that there is no need for a draft for the War on Terrorism or any likely contingency, such as Iraq." \nThis is a statement Litke can find some comfort in because he hasn't quite figured out how he would get his desired deferment status.\n"It hasn't occurred to me how yet," he said. "Maybe I'd fake an injury."\n-- Contact senior writer Kathleen Quilligan at kquillig@indiana.edu.