Don Young Quotes

I think a draft produces a better Army than the one we would have with all volunteers, because I think you get average Americans if you have a draft. And if it's an all-volunteer Army, you get people who join up because of some problem in their own lives. They don't have anything else to do, they don't have a job, or they can't find what they want to do, so they join the Army. And it doesn't produce the best Army.

With respect to where we are now, we have a voluntary army. And if we ever go back to conscription I hope that at time it will be the kind of conscription that was put in at the end of the Vietnam War. And that is, everybody is equally liable to be called to serve the nation in time of conflict.

Also in the new constitution, we want to lower the voting age from 20 years to 18 years and also gradually implement a voluntary military service in replacement of the current compulsory military service.

I was drafted during the Korean War.

Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription.

Because conscription appeals to essentially no one, the United States has lived with the All-Volunteer Force since the end of the Vietnam War.

Since January 2003, at the height of the debate on the possible unilateral strike against Iraq, I have advocated for a reinstatement of the military draft to ensure a more equitable representation of people making sacrifices in wars in which the United States is engaged.

I hated the draft, but at the same time, it's something that made every American take war seriously.

Maybe the answer to Selective Service is to start everyone off in the army and draft them for civilian life as needed.

I was drafted during the Korean War. None of us wanted to go... It was only a couple of years after World War II had ended. We said, 'Wait a second? Didn't we just get through with that?'

The weeping voices rise straight up and strike the clouds. A passer-by at the roadside asks a conscript why, The conscript answers only that drafting happens often.

But although Australia was also involved in the Vietnam conflict, I can remember my dad telling us that if we were in Australia, we wouldn't be drafted until we were 20.

I succeeded in staying out of the military during the Vietnam War, and I would never assume the right to tell others to do a “duty” that I shirked.

Conscription may have been good for the country, but it damned near killed the country.

Congress have a right by the Constitution to raise regular armies, and no restraint is imposed on the exercise of it …. It would be absurd to suppose that Congress could not carry this power into effect otherwise than be accepting the voluntary service of individuals.

... we might better reexamine the reasons for entering the war than abolish volunteers and substitute for them men dragged into the ranks by draft.

They talk about conscription as being a democratic institution. Yes; so is a cemetery.

All able bodied male citizens … are hereby declared to be the National Forces.

The only way to have a volunteer army is to draft them.

Pennsylvania is soon to participate in a profoundly solemn and historic departure from precedent when, for the first time in our Republic, there will be registration for peace-time conscription on Wednesday, October 16th, between the hours of 7 A. M. and 9 P. M. This date, designated as Registration Day by authority of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, and set by the President's Proclamation… is one of the most significant days in the annals of our Commonwealth and our Nation. All male persons in the United States, with the few exceptions which already have been made clear, who have attained the twenty-first anniversary of the day of their birth and who have not attained the thirty-sixth anniversary of the day of their birth, are required to present themselves and submit to registration for compulsory military service. Never before has America, through the Congress of the United States, found it necessary to take such a step. The impact and consequences of Registration Day make it an historic event to all of our people. Every family is affected. All means available must be used to apprise everyone everywhere of what must be done to complete the registration properly, accurately and fully.

It is not believed that a force of more than 400,000 can be secured or maintained by voluntary enlistments. An increase beyond that number would necessitate the simultaneous enactment of a selective service act.

I'm not a believer in bringing back the draft. But I am a huge proponent of national service.

Conscription is an impediment to achieving the forces Australia needs. It is an alibi for failing to give proper conditions to regular soldiers. We will abolish conscription forthwith. By abolishing it, Australia will achieve a better army, a better-paid army - and a better, united society.

Lord Kitchener and Mr. Asquith have both repeatedly assured the public that the response to the appeal for recruits have been highly gratifying and has exceeded all expectations. What the conscriptionists want, however, is not recruits, but a system of conscription that will bring the whole male working-class population under the military control of the ruling classes.

Each man ... shall serve for a training and service period of 12 consecutive months unless sooner discharged, except that whenever the Congress has declared that the national interest is imperiled, such 12-month period may be extended by the President to such time as may be necessary in the interests of national defense.