The AVF vs. a Draft, Again:

Advocates of instituting a new military draft say they fear that the All-Volunteer Force will run short of recruits or that the less-affluent segment of our society will unfairly shoulder the burden of current combat operations—take your pick. As with other studies, a new Congressional Budget Office report finds that there is no support for the latter fear. In truth, data shows that the US military “is representative of society along many dimensions,” except that it is slightly younger. When comparing the AVF to similarly aged general population, the US military has fewer women, has more blacks (19 percent vs. 14 percent in 2006), and has fewer Hispanics (11 percent vs. 14 percent). At to the socioeconomic factor, CBO says that young people from “the very highest and lowest income families may be less likely to serve.” Bottom line: “A draft would have trouble producing a force with the same level of experience as a volunteer force.”