John McCain and The Military Draft

2008 Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain of Arizona has repeatedly stated that he's against reinstating the military draft, but he's taken strong stands before only to dramatically reverse positions at a later date. Case in point, he voted against AmeriCorps, a federal program launched by President Bill Clinton in 1993. It can best be described as a domestic version of the Peace Corps where thousands of young volunteers help build houses and provide education for the needy. At this time, the program numbers 50,000 volunteers, paling against the much more robust Peace Corps.

In 2001, McCain did another 180-degree turn, and co-sponsored the Call to Service Act with Democratic Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. "The all-volunteer military is looking for lifers," said McCain, "not those who might want to serve for shorter tours of duty. The one exception to this trend is AmeriCorps, the program of national service begun by President Bill Clinton."

The Call to Service Act would have quadrupled the size of AmeriCorps to 250,000 volunteers, specifically adding and beefing up the "citizen-soldier" arm of the program known as the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). Of Clinton's 50,000 AmeriCorps volunteers, the NCCC program consisted of 1000 volunteers. The reason for McCain's turnaround view of AmeriCorps was that he saw the NCCC part of the program as a way to greatly increase the size of the military without reinstating a draft.

In his article for The Washington Monthly, "Putting the 'National' Back in National Service", McCain wrote, "AmeriCorp's National Civilian Community Corps (is) a service program consciously structured along military lines. NCCC members not only wear uniforms and work in teams, (they also) live together in barracks on former military bases and are deployed to service projects far from their home base."

In McCain-Bayh's Call to Service Act, the citizen-soldier option would have offered shortened versions of military service. In exchange for 18 months of military service and 18 months of reserve duty, volunteers would receive benefits similar to the GI Bill. According to McCain, a shortened military service option would help attract more college students, particularly those wanting to receive the benefits of federal financial aid.

McCain further wrote, "If we are to have a resurgence of patriotic services in this country, then programs like AmeriCorps must be expanded and changed in ways that inspire the nation. There should be more focus on meeting national goals and on making short-term service, both civilian and military, a rite of passage for young Americans."

The 2001 Call to Service Act, however, never made it out of committee. Only the short-term military enlistment option became law, offering the 18 month enlistment followed by 24 months of reserve duty and an $18,000 stipend.

In 2003, McCain and Bayh received added support from Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy for a greatly expanded AmeriCorps program. They introduced the Call to Service Act 2003.

"In the past," McCain wrote, "it has been a rite of passage for our nation's leaders to serve in the armed forces. Today, fewer and fewer of my Congressional colleagues know from experience the reality of military life. The decline of the citizen-soldier is not healthy for a democracy."

Given McCain's frequent 180-degree platform turnarounds, particularly his current support of George W. Bush's troop surge strategy in Iraq, this brings up questions as to whether the AmeriCorps' NCCC could eventually become a back-door for a draft.

SOURCES:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/John_McCain_Defense.htm

"Be afraid of President McCain", Matt Welch, Reason Magazine, URL: (http://www.reason.com/news/show/118937.html)

"Lawmaker to push reinstating the draft", John Heilbrun, Boston Globe, URL: (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/20/lawmaker_to_push_reinstating_draft/)

"Could draft be reinstated?", Gil Kaufman, MTV News, URL: (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1546278/20061120/id_0.jhtml)

"What ever happened to national service?", Evan Just, Washington Monthly, URL: (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0303.just.html)

"For a new kind of draft", Robin Gerber, Christian Science Monitor, URL: (http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1113/p11s1-coop.html)

"A slight draft", Jacob Weisberg, Slate, URL: (http://www.slate.com/id/2058893/)

"Citizen soldiers and the war on terror", Marc McGee and Stephen Nider, Democratic Leadership Council, URL: (http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=124&subid=307&contentid=251099)

http://mccain.senate.gov/press_office/view_article.cfm?id=340