Abstract or Introduction
In 1969 President Richard Nixon established the President’s Commission on the All-Volunteer Force, a 15-member commission chaired by former Secretary of Defense Thomas Gates, to "develop a comprehensive plan for eliminating conscription and moving to an all-volunteer force." After the Gates Commission recommended ending the draft, critics alleged the move to an all-volunteer force would negatively alter the concept of American citizenship by eliminating the connection between citizenship and military service. Even if a return to military conscription was politically possible, the draft ended for a myriad of legitimate military, political, and social reasons that make its re-establishment even less practical today. If Americans have lost a sense of civic obligation and community, the end of the draft did not create this problem, nor would the return of conscription serve as a panacea for problems with America’s civic and political culture.
- Quote paper
- Conor Cummings (Author), 2012, All-Volunteer Force – The Rise of Professionalism in the U.S. Military, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/210756
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