The D Word

Tim Squitieri, writing in USA today, says that reservists are not answering recall orders. "Of the 1,662 ready reservists ordered to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., by Sept. 22," he writes, "only 1,038 had done so, the Army said Monday.. . . The ready reserve is an infrequently used pool of former soldiers who can be called to duty in a national emergency or war. On June 29, the Army announced it would call 5,674 members of its IRR back to active duty this year and next." Take this at face value and we can assume that President Bush isn't thinking about a draft.

At any rate, with all the recent hollering about President Bush re-instating the draft, seems to me that's exactly what will happen if Kerry is elected. In fact, if he does what he claims he'll do, the draft is inevitable.

After all, in his speech on June 3 Kerry said "My first order of business as commander in chief will be to expand
America’s active duty forces. Not to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq, but to add 40,000 new soldiers to prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts."

And where does he plan to get all those troops? He doesn't say. Anad he doesn't say the D word, either. He just says "And this will help relieve the strain on our troops," and adds "it will bring more of our soldiers, guardsmen and reservists back home to their families and get them time for the new training they need."

Maybe a draft is inevitable unless we just pull out and leave Iraq to fate. We know President Bush will stay the course; we're not so sure about Kerry.