ABSTRACT
The basic military recruitment dilemma for the United States is that it is a free and democratic society, and as such Americans resent the unequal burdens that wars place on citizens.1
As the world’s most powerful nation, the United States needs soldiers. However, most free men and women, Americans surely included, do not want to be soldiers, because they recognize the potential sacrifices involved. Every method of recruitment burdens someone – those who go in harm’s way, as military service requires. How does a democratic society allocate the risks and sustain its defense commitments when the price in freedom and lives lost has to be paid?
