Volunteers for Uncle Sam: Rethinking Military Recruitment

In the early l8OOs, Carl Von Clausewitz proposed his now famous "trinity" War is not waged by an independent military, but is influenced by three elements -- the military, the government, and the will of the people. Of course, an essential component of the military are the service members, without them a military can not exist. How a society fills the ranks of its armed forces is therefore an important dimension of the military and how it wages war. In recent years, the importance of the American soldier in military strategy and policy seems to have been ignored. Despite voluminous writings on strategy, unity of command, span of control, modernization, and leadership, there is one topic largely overlooked by the military strategists and thinkers - acquiring manpower. As a result of this lack of focus three of the four military services, have had to face the failure of meeting their recruiting requirements. Without troops there is no military without them war or conflicts could not be waged.