The strength of the all-volunteer force

By Thomas G. Mahnken

This week's news that, for the first time in 35 years, the U.S. military met all of its annual recruiting goals is testimony to the patriotism of America's sons and daughters and a reflection of the durability of the U.S. armed forces.

The economic downturn surely has something to do with the healthy recruiting figures, but there have been other periods of recession in the three and a half decades since the establishment of the All-Volunteer Force after the Vietnam War. The fundamental fact remains that large numbers of American 18- and 19-year-olds, who were 10 or 11 when al Qaeda on 9/11, continue to choose to join the military in large numbers, even though they will almost certainly deploy into combat in Iraq (remember Iraq?) or Afghanistan.

The recruiting numbers offer a strong rebuke to those who have argued that the U.S. military cannot bear the strain of waging two wars. They also refute periodic calls to replace an all-volunteer military with conscription. Indeed, they show that the means to wage the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq exists; whether the will to employ these forces to achieve victory exists, remains to be seen.

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