Toward a Consensus on Military Service : Report of the Atlantic Council's Working Group on Military Service

Toward a Consensus on Military Service: Report of the Atlantic Council's Working Group on Military Service examines the experience and prospects of the U.S. peacetime military volunteer force. It presents a Policy Paper that offers a broad range of recommendations designed both to strengthen that force and to prepare the way, should circumstances require it, for a resumption of compulsory military service. The book begins by providing a geopolitical backdrop for the issues of U.S. military service examined in subsequent chapters. It analyzes basic U.S. national interests, Soviet power and policy, and East-West relations. This is followed by separate chapters on the antecedents of force-manning in the U.S.; current and evolving concepts of U.S. security requirements; the all-volunteer force; and military manpower policies. Subsequent chapters examine long-term military manpower trends and criteria for a peacetime military force; compulsory service options; and social and ethical issues that have colored the historical American debate over how the nation should raise its armed forces in peacetime. Content: Pergamon Titles of Related Interest , Page ii Front Matter , Page iii Copyright , Page iv Inside Front Cover , Page viii List of Figures , Page ix List of Tables , Pages x-xi Foreword , Pages xiii-xiv Preface , Pages xv-xvii Members of the Working Group on Military Service , Pages xix-xxi Additional Participants in the Regional American Assembly , Page xxii 1 - The Setting , Pages 1-19 2 - Military Manpower: The American Experience and the Enduring Debate , Pages 20-51 3 - U.S. Security Requirements: Missions, Manpower, Readiness, Mobilization, and Projection of Forces , Pages 52-75 4 - The All-Volunteer Force: Status and Prospects of the Active Forces , Pages 76-112 5 - The All-Volunteer Force Today: Mobilization Manpower , Pages 113-130 6 - Beyond the Marketplace: National Service and the AVF , Pages 131-151 7 - Peacetime Voluntary Options , Pages 152-199 8 - Obligatory Service: The Fundamental and Secondary Choices , Pages 200-234 9 - Military Service in American Society , Pages 235-259 10 - The Policy Paper: Toward a Consensus on Military Service , Pages 260-315 Index , Pages 317-321 About the Co-Chairmen and Rapporteur , Page 322 Andrew J. Goodpaster, Lloyd H. Elliott, Co-chairmen ; J. Allan Hovey, Jr., Rapporteur ; Foreword By Kenneth Rush. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.