You are making the assumption that everyone who volunteers for the military is motivated by the same things.

How about having the guy in the next foxhole being there because he just wanted the college money and he will be damned if he is going to risk his life for you?

I don't think you can accurately make such generalizations that everyone who volunteers will be motivated by the same things. People join the military for different reasons

Dedication to the country
Education benefits
Training opportunities
Getting away from the family
No other economic opportunities


Hey there are all kinds of reasons for someone to join up. Hell, I can't pin down only one reason I joined up.

I also don't think you can accurately make such generalizations that all draftees are "far more difficult to motivate". Not every draftee resists and goes over the hill. Many many of our draftees accepted the duty as THEIR duty and performed it most honourably.

Some of our bravest heros were draftees who were doing a job they really did not want to do.

Some of our worst schleps were volunteers who only joined for the educational benefits.

I think people are a bit more complex in their motivations.

Professional soldiers are the way forward with the wars we're fighting at the moment. In MothBalls original question, he asked a hypothetical question about a WW3 type scenario. If it goes anything like WW2 for the UK, the professional soldiers will be decimated in the first few months of the war and the remaining professionals will be divided amongst drafted troops to try and give them some hard won combat experience. Limited wars are fine for a professional army, total war will be 100% reliant on a draft.

As flyingdane points out, there was a long debate on women in the military in an old thread, kicked off by an 'all female sub crew' report on 1 Apr.