What year were you born?
If you are an American, the graphic above shows the percentage of your life that has been spent with the US at war with somebody. It’s shocking enough just looking at the dates from 2001 on, the 911 effect. Armed conflict with American troops involved somewhere in the world is now a constant in American life — but it’s one most people never experience directly.
If you look, you may notice that the percentage never got much above 50% until 1983, but it’s been trending upward ever since. Even before 911, it was closing in on 100%. Now some of that is because 17 years of constant war are going to raise the percentage for everybody going back to birth dates before 2001, but even so we got through a century with two world wars, Korea, and Vietnam before it really started picking up.
So here’s what I’m wondering about,
Something happened in 1973. July 1, 1973 to be specific. That was the day the US went to an all-volunteer military and the draft ended. Where have we ended up? Here’s something from NPR in 2011. As of March 31, 2010, there were 2,266,883 people serving in the armed forces, including active duty, National Guard, Air National Guard and reserves. That was less than 1% out of a US population of 309 million. (There are a lot of graphics at the link that will give you a lot more information.) The numbers have changed since then I’m sure, but not that less than 1%.
I happen to have two family members in the military. One is now in the reserves after some years on active duty and several deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. The other is currently in active service, though not deployed overseas. (Maybe he’ll be sent to the border?) I pay attention to things that don’t affect most people because most people have no direct connection to the military.
People in the US military are there now because they chose to be. How long they stay in is up to them under most circumstances — barring death or injury. If you are not in the military yourself, if you don’t have any family members in the military, you may not even know anyone with a direct connection to anyone currently serving. Oh sure, there’s lots of lip-service about honoring the troops and their sacrifice, but for the vast majority of Americans, they have no skin in the game.
And when the worst happens, when things go really wrong, you’ll hear thoughts and prayers — but you’ll also hear “They knew what they signed up for.” The vast majority of Americans will never have to worry about someone in uniform showing up their door to convey the news no parent, no spouse, no sibling, no child ever wants to hear. The vast majority have no worries about their children being drafted and shipped off to fight somewhere against their will. No politician has to deal with draft riots or protests.
And that’s why that graphic has me wondering.
Did that change in 1973 make it too easy to go to war? Do too many people simply accept it because it doesn’t affect them in any way that matters to them personally? Do too many knee-jerk armchair warriors want to use the military like a club because they’ve never had to face the prospect of their own butts being on the line, never had to face up to their own fears? The military by most accounts is happy with a volunteer force. It avoids a lot of discipline and morale problems — until repeated deployments take their toll and recruiting targets can’t be met.
I never served myself, but others in my family did and do. I don’t know how I would have done in the military, and I’m at an age now where it’s not a prospect. I look at that chart, and I think maybe getting rid of the draft was a mistake in some ways. Sure, there was a lot of injustice involved and worse — but that might have been a feature, not a bug. It ripped a lot people out of lives of privilege, broadened their world, forced them to take down barriers they might not even have known were there.
More important, it made going to war harder. The politics mattered more when anyone’s loved ones could get that notice in the mail from Uncle Sam. People were forced to reckon the costs to them personally. Just carrying a draft card made people think a little more.
I don’t know if bringing back the draft would solve anything, but I do know that chart shows something is very wrong, and it isn’t getting better. The 2018 election coming up will have a lot of new voters who have grown up with never-ending war.
Will they do something about it?
Interesting times ahead.