The draft. There, I said it.

This soiled little word is so embedded in the American psyche that whenever a public official or military leader ventures into D-word territory, it rattles public sentiment.

So, last month when a reporter from National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” asked President Bush’s new “war czar,” Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, about the possibility of a return to the draft, his answer — innocuous as it was — made headlines

Lute, in his first interview as assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan, said that with the stress of repeated deployments on service members and their families, it makes sense from a military vantage point to consider the reinstatement of the draft. That option, Lute said, has always been on the table. He also pointed out the all-volunteer force is serving the country “exceptionally well” and that it would be a major policy shift to change course.

That last bit got dismissed in the headlines: “Senior U.S. Soldier Puts Draft on Agenda”; “Army Chief Calls for Return of Draft to Ease Fatigue”; “Bush War Czar Says Draft Worth a Look”; “Bush Adviser: Draft Worth Considering”; “Bush’s War Czar Considers Reinstating the Draft”; “Bush War Czar Calls Draft an Option.”

White House and Pentagon officials closed ranks and pointedly announced the draft is not under consideration, nor is it an option “on the table.” From a political standpoint, revisiting that Vietnam vulture would be a death knell to an administration.

Few Americans want the return of the draft, which Nixon eliminated in 1973. Neither do our servicemembers, the men and women who make up our nation’s all-volunteer force.

“We do not need it. We will not need it. I do not want it. Nobody I know in uniform wants it,” a field grade officer at Fort Hood, Texas, told me.
A draft, he said, would give us what we don’t need — unmotivated, poorly trained, misinformed soldiers — who would raise desertion and AWOL rates, cause disruption to fighting units and mobilize an otherwise apathetic national student population.

In the all-volunteer force, serving is seen as a privilege. For a conscripted military, it’s a burden. No one I know in the armed forces wants to be around that type of karma.

Our country has roots in a conscripted force dating to the Civil War. Draftees fought in both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.

When terrorists struck the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, we already had a large professional fighting force capable, ready — and let’s not forget, willing — to fight anywhere in the world.

But with our active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops on their third and fourth deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the idea of sharing in the nation’s wars, at least from an idealistic standpoint, is tempting. Politicians, the ones responsible for sending troops into harm’s way, would have a personal stake in their war vote — their own children and grandchildren. And the deaths of servicemembers on the evening news would no longer be background noise for American families.

What would the reinstatement of the draft say about our society? Could it be an indicator our nation has lost its drive for voluntary military service? Or simply that Americans are unwilling to support an unpopular war?

I don’t have those answers. What I do know is that there are many ways to serve one’s country. As John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address, “And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Tanya Biank is a journalist and syndicated columnist with CinCHouse.com. Tanya’s book “Army Wives” is the basis for the Lifetime TV drama “Army Wives.”