To the Editor:

While I appreciate the honesty in Joe Marshall’s column, as such

honesty has been lacking in previous articles about bringing back

the draft (see Ms. Baldwin’s Jan. 20 column), he still does not

give a clear view of the issue. While Sen. Hagel did make comments

about bringing back the draft he is alone in voicing this opinion.

This is not the first time Sen. Hagel has stepped out of the

mainstream and certainly it will not be the last.

The overwhelming majority of military experts and legislators

understand the detriment to the military that results from forcing

people to join. This lesson was well learned in Vietnam and is

remembered today. Instead the military is looking for incentives to

retain current troops and gain recruits. Thursday it was announced

that Gen. B.B. Bell, the Army’s top general in Europe, would

personally be visiting various military installations to find out

how he can help keep up reenlistment rates. These efforts must be

working as the Army recently announced it reached its reenlistment

goals for troops in combat, rates normal to non-combat period.

Before people are lead to believe that the only reason to not

bring back the draft is due to its unpopularity, they should look

at the facts. With few exceptions, the draft is seen as a relic of

prior times and should be reinstated only in dire circumstances.

The military sees conscripts as a detriment to its forces and wants

to keep our volunteer military volunteer.

Jacob Seybert

Senior, psychology