The Climate’s All Wrong

The President’s Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force did not solve the problem of Selective Service, which expires too soon for some and too late for many. And it is unlikely that the problem will blow away, since it presents a real dilemma whose ominous ramifications remain unexplained by the Commission, the press and the government.

The Commission compiled a great mass of statistics to show that procurement of combat soldiery on a voluntary basis is in many respects feasible. But, in assuming that Selective Service should be analyzed only in terms of alternatives, it dodged judgment of the system and, especially, of the consequences of its costs, where it fails on nearly all counts.

WY

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W. W. Yale

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The President’s Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force did not solve the problem of Selective Service, which expires too soon for some and too late for many. And it is unlikely that the problem will blow away, since it presents a real dilemma whose ominous ramifications remain unexplained by the Commission, the press and the government.

The Commission compiled a great mass of statistics to show that procurement of combat soldiery on a voluntary basis is in many respects feasible. But, in assuming that Selective Service should be analyzed only in terms of alternatives, it dodged judgment of the system and, especially, of the consequences of its costs, where it fails on nearly all counts.