For Some Soldiers the War Never Ends

Very interesting commentary on the Defense Department’s use of stop-loss orders and activation of the Individual Ready Reserve.

Captain Exum does a great job of challenging the idea that the current U.S. force is sufficient to meet all of its commitments. This makes a strong case for increasing the size of the permanent force. How exactly the individual branches would do it, I’m not sure.

As far as the idea of a draft goes, I’m not sure that’s the best idea for the military threats our country faces today. One idea I’d like to see considered very strongly is a draft for first responders (fire, EMS, police, etc). Because so many of our current reservists leave those positions empty when they get called up, I think it would be wise if those positions could have a steadier stream of incoming personnel.