But Who Don't We Draft?

I don't understand why the question of starting a draft to staff our military has arisen again. Our volunteer military is working. Why risk screwing it up with a draft?

And there is another problem with a draft that some argue is more fair than counting on volunteers: our military is too small to need everyone who could be drafted.

I think we have over 4 million people turning 18-years-old every year as a pool to draw from.

We need over 250,000 recruits each year for all services in the active and reserve components.

Right off the bat, we have some unfairness because 3.75 million young men and women wouldn't be put in uniform each year even as a quarter million are forced into service. Clearly, some of the 3.75 million not chosen to serve would have volunteered while most of those drafted would not have otherwise chosen to serve.

So what is the fair way to decide what small fraction of our population serves in uniform?

And are complicated rules and a large bureaucracy to follow them a better way than seeking volunteers?

But then again, this is from Tom Ricks. I don't expect much. Funny, I once thought he was a good reporter. But attempting to make the leap to defense analysis has been a bridge too far.