With pending military action in Iraq, Charles Rangel wants you to be all that you can be.
The Democratic U.S. representative from Harlem, N.Y., introduced on Jan. 7 the Universal National Service Act of 2003, calling for mandatory military service for men and women between the ages of 18 and 26. On the same day, Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., introduced a similar bill in the Senate.
Since Rangel presented his proposal in a Dec. 31 op-ed piece in The New York Times, the draft has surfaced as a major political issue. According to Northwestern sociology Prof. Charles Moskos, political dialogue on the subject is overdue.
“I’ve been a long-time, sole proponent crying out in the wilderness for the draft, and now it has moved back into the public’s attention,” he said.
Moskos is no stranger to controversial military issues. In 1993 he authored President Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” military policy toward enlisted gays. He has written numerous books and was appointed by the Senate to the Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues in 1998.
Some critics have said the reason Rangle has given for the bill is backward. In October he voted against the Iraq resolution and frames this new bill as an anti-war statement.
“He thinks that if you had the children of the elite’s lives on the line, they would be less willing to go to war,” Moskos said.
Rangel has said the military currently is composed of a disproportionate number of minorities, a problem his bill would solve when all young Americans share the burden of war.
NOWAR member Naureen Shah said the bill will enlighten those who support military action without thinking about the consequences.
“I think it is really important for public figures to take different stands on the war against Iraq,” the Medill senior said. “I think the idea of making people realize what the cost of war would be … in terms of lives, is very important.”
According to former draftee Moskos, the suspension of the draft in 1973 has led to a decrease in the number of college-age Americans who serve in the armed forces.
He said out of 700 men in his graduating class at Princeton University, 400 served in the military. This year out of a Princeton’s class of 1000 men, only three will have served.
“When I was a draftee, Elvis Presley was my contemporary draftee,” Moskos said. “Can you imagine Eminem being drafted today?”
Just 41 NU students today are enrolled in the Naval ROTC program.
Laura Millendorf, former Women’s Coalition director and current member, said a draft probably is the only way to reverse this trend and said women should be willing to serve alongside men.
“As much as I would personally not look forward to going to war, (a mandatory draft) is the only way to properly do this,” said Millendorf, a Weinberg senior. “If women want equality in all sectors of public life, then they have to accept the bad with the good, and fighting a war is included in public life.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., respects the logic behind the bill but said its success is uncertain.
“I think his proposal raises some important questions that we need to consider,” he said in his official statement on the bill. “But I have also spoken to the Defense Department, and they tell me they have no plans to reinstate the draft, nor am I sure that I see the will in the Republican-led Congress to take such action.”
However, Moskos said he believes the draft will remain a prevalent issue in the 2004 election. He hopes Rangel’s bill will make NU students consider serving their country.
“The question is not who’s in the army,” he said. “It’s who’s not in the army, and that is the NU student.”
