I am certain that the U.S.-led coalition can defeat the Islamic terrorist groups in the Middle East. But if we ultimately must put boots on the ground, we should only do so when our entire nation is fully committed to sharing the burden—when we reinstate the draft and enact a war tax. Most American families today do not have much stake in the cost of war. Right now, few fight and even fewer decide. But war becomes more personal when you have to pay for a loved one to fight in it.
Since 1973, the all-volunteer U.S. military has comported itself with honor and bravery. Yet the burden of service disproportionately falls on less than 1 percent of the population. The same familiar faces have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. A more inclusive military draft, however, would compel everyone in the nation to stop and rethink about who we send to wars, how we fight and why we fight them at all.
Our military leadership is absent of racial diversity. While minorities are slightly over-represented in its lower ranks, they are nearly absent from its top brass. The ratio of active-duty minority officers and enlisted members is currently 1 for every 6.9 officers. U.S. Navy Admiral Michelle Howard, who became America’s first Black woman to be promoted to a four-star officer rank last year, noted how isolating and alienating her job had become. “You look around the room, and there’s nobody who looks or sounds like you,” she said.
Black Americans make up a mere 5.5 percent of graduates of the U.S. Army’s elite West Point Military Academy, where 80 percent of its graduates are white. Hispanic and Asian-Americans are altogether underrepresented throughout the U.S. armed forces and almost nonexistent in the upper ranks. Those who end up wearing the scars of war are usually not from the top, where minorities are excluded from the decision making on how to fight.
I am further troubled by the socioeconomic disparity of the all-volunteer force. Because of a glaring lack of opportunities, many young Americans from distressed, rural communities are more inclined to volunteer for the military than those from affluent backgrounds. The military recruits in rural areas at a rate of 1.94 per 1,000 young people, well above the national average. A mere 5 percent of enlisted, active-duty service members hold a bachelor’s degree, whereas 82 percent of their counterparts in the officers corps have at least a bachelor’s. In a society where higher education is essential to securing a job, many view the military as an alternative means, as I did in 1948, to achieving the American Dream.
Not to be overlooked, the burden of service has predominantly fallen on men. While women have fought with valor and distinction, they only make up approximately 16 percent of our military. This makes it all too easy to count women out of the equation, even though they bear the burden on the home front while their loved ones are sent into harm’s way, and while so many mothers endure the tragic loss of their sons.
Currently, almost all male U.S. citizens and immigrants between the ages of 18 to 25 are required to register with the Selective Service in case our nation needs to reinstate the draft. I have introduced a bill to include women in the registry, doubling the approximately 13.5 million currently eligible for conscription—not to send women off to the battlefields, but to give them a voice on matters of war.
Still, not everyone will have a son or daughter, a brother or sister in the fight. That is why I believe it is important to levy a war tax so that everyone has a reason to question America’s decision to go to war. When we require citizens to pay out of their own pockets, the costs become more real. Nearly 6,900 American service men and women paid the ultimate price in Iraq and Afghanistan. War should be our last resort.
But if we must go back to war, we should decide and fight together as a nation. Reinstating the draft and enacting a war tax would ensure that our fight against the Islamic State is a shared sacrifice. If we want a fair fight, national defense should be synonymous with the contributions of everyone, not just the small few.