Socioeconomic Representativeness and the Draft
Abstract
The debate concerning America's All-Volunteer Force, seven years after the elimination of the peacetime draft in June 1973, is more controversial than ever before. It is argued that the 'quality' of recruits who enter the services (especially the Army) is of lower caliber than historically experienced. Proponents of conscription contend that the quality of accessions is not representative of the population at large. They consistently compare the education, race and mental abilities of today's All-Volunteer Force (AVF) entrants with the same qualities of those who enlisted (or were inducted) during the conscription years. A more helpful comparison would be to compare the socioeconomic characteristics of today's force with the characteristics that would be present if conscription were still being used. This thesis sets the frame for that analysis--examining military representativeness during the Vietnam draft years, and comparing it to the socioeconomic and quality characteristics of the general population of the same period. It tracks a cohort of young men, 14 to 17 years of age in 1966, through a period of seven draft years (1966 to 1973).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA090092
Entities
People
- James Anthony Reaghard
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School