military draft essay

Pros and Cons of the Military Draft

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The Army is the only branch of the U.S. Armed forces which has relied on conscription, popularly known in the U.S. as "The Draft." In 1973, at the end of the Vietnam War, Congress abolished the draft in favor of an all-volunteer Army (AVA).

The Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard are not meeting recruiting goals, and junior officers are not re-enlisting. Soldiers have been forced to fight in Iraq for long tours of duty, with little relief in sight. These pressures have caused some leaders to insist that reinstating the draft is inevitable.

The draft was abandoned in 1973 in large part due to protests and a general belief that the draft was unfair: that it targeted less affluent members of society because, for example, of college deferments. However, that was not the first time Americans had protested a draft; that distinction belongs to the Civil War, with the most famous riots occurring in New York City in 1863.

Today the all-volunteer Army is criticized because its ranks of minorities are disproportionate to the general population and because recruiters target less affluent teenagers who have poor job prospects after graduation. It is also criticized for its access to the nation's youth; high schools and colleges that receive federal monies are required to allow recruiters on campus.

Conscription for military service is a classic debate between individual liberty and duty to society. Democracies value individual liberty and choice; however, democracy does not come without costs. How should those costs be shared?

George Washington makes the case for mandatory service:

It must be laid down as a primary position and the basis of our (democratic) system, that every citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal service to the defence of it.

It was this ethic that led the U.S. to adopt mandatory militia service for white males in the late 1700s.

The modern equivalent is voiced by Rep. Rangel (D-NY), a veteran of the Korean War :

I truly believe that those who make the decision and those who support the United States going into war would feel more readily the pain that's involved, the sacrifice that's involved, if they thought that the fighting force would include the affluent and those who historically have avoided this great responsibility...Those who love this country have a patriotic obligation to defend this country. For those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance.

The Universal National Service Act (HR2723) would require all men and women aged 18-26 to perform military or civilian service "in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." The required term of service is 15 months. This differs from a draft lottery, however, as its goal is to apply equally to all.

Modern warfare is "high tech" and has changed dramatically since Napolean's march to Russia, the battle of Normandy or the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. There is no longer a need for massive human cannon fodder. Thus one argument against the draft is that the Army needs highly skilled professionals, not just men with combat skills.

When the Gates Commission recommended an all-volunteer Army to President Nixon , one of the arguments was economic. Even though wages would be higher with the volunteer force, Milton Freedman argued that the net cost to society would be lower.

In addition, the Cato Institute argues that selective service registration, which was reauthorized under President Carter and extended under President Reagan, should also be eliminated:

The sign-up was always intended to quickly generate a large conscript army--similar to America's 13-million-man military in World War II--for a protracted conventional war against the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact centered in Europe. Today that kind of conflict is a paranoid fantasy. Consequently, the premium for registration "insurance" would be better spent elsewhere.

And an early 1990s Congressional Research Service report says an expanded reserve corps is preferable to a draft:

A requirement for major increases in combat forces could be met much more quickly by activating more reserves than by instituting a draft. A draft would not provide the trained officers and non-commissioned officers to man effective units; it would only turn out freshly trained junior enlisted recruits.

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Military Draft: Arguments for and Against

1. introduction.

The military draft has been an issue since the early 1950s when the United States began to undermine the loyalty and skills of our very own government. Every day, men turn eighteen, they are required to register for the draft to become a part of the Selective Service System. The U.S. needs men to go into the military, but men are not volunteering, so the government created a conscription system. Without the conscription system, men would not register the way they should. Even though they can get into extreme trouble for not registering, they still do not do it. Some support the draft, and others are against it. In this paper, I will present both sides of the argument and then give my own view on the issue. So the question is, should the U.S. have the conscription system or should we just try to strengthen the one we already have?

2. Historical Background of Military Drafts

Both the United States and Israel rely heavily on selective service enrollment, and both countries have witnessed profound changes in military conscription during the second half of the 20th century. In the case of the United States, the Selective Service System has been used only twice since the end of World War II - the Korean War and the Vietnam War. At other times, the U.S. Armed Forces have been based on volunteers. This changed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when many influential commentators suggested that the United States ought to consider reviving the military draft as a response to the new security environment. Meanwhile, since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have drafted the large majority of its male (and a growing number of its female) citizens, due to the ongoing security challenges in the region. However, to the dismay of many of its supporters in the political and military establishments, Israeli military conscription is subject to several exemptions that have attracted considerable public attention and controversy over the years. Given the close cultural, political, and military ties between the United States and Israel, it is clear that these two cases offer a timely, useful, and informative perspective regarding many unresolved theoretical and practical issues related to conscription in both historical and contemporary terms. The historical record suggests that both the U.S. and Israeli military drafts are driven by various explicit and implicit social goals, such as equity, manpower mobilization, and public ownership of military institutions and the martial enterprise.

3. Arguments in Favor of Military Drafts

Until World War 1, there were no large armies made up of free men, for military service was a privilege. In World War II, the responsibility of military service was still an individual one. After World War II, conscription became less common. The only remaining draftee in the United States military is the athlete who is drafted into a war. Since 1974, most draftees have served in hospitals rather than being exposed to danger on battlefields. "The military buildup can only produce stronger and stronger enemies," says Mitchell Kapor. Nations whose people are free to criticize their government will have the benefit of all the ideas and can weed out those that are foolish. Some Americans argue that peace is the result of the wisdom and struggle of men and women who follow in the footsteps of our founding fathers, who are willing to volunteer to make the sacrifices necessary to preserve the longstanding ideals of democracy, freedom of speech, and religion. By doing so, they fulfill the principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Al Schick believes that the obligation to defend our country is owed only by the people who are willing to volunteer to uphold the principles and ideals of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

3.1. National Defense and Security

Some advocates of the draft believe that the draft is essential to the defense of the nation. A fast, ample supply of manpower is not possible during a national emergency without a draft. A draft will also provide the needed balance of skills, age, education, race, and other factors. Two dangers with an all-volunteer force are the possibility of union-like organization and exploitation of the military bureaucracy at the cost of the military service, as well as exploitation of minority and marginal groups, as the underprivileged are often forced to rely on military service as an only alternative to a dead-end life. Finally, there are claims that draftees serve for a longer time in the military than do enlistees, and they are therefore allocated in the service, better able to function and master their job. In addition to the belief of almost all anti-establishment forces that draftees would refuse, resist, and fight destructive orders, especially when these orders are directed against their family and friends in the homeland, those opposing the draft bring more specific analytical argumentation. Starting from a detailed analysis of all elements of the draft in peacetime, a number of conclusions emerge that are relevant to the defense and security of the country.

3.2. Equity and Fairness

Equity is not an issue when people enter the military by choice. Service is voluntary in the United States. There are sound moral and philosophical arguments for military service on a conscription basis that have failed to persuade the American ruling elite, who can presently fight their wars with other people's children. If one does accept the need for a standing draft in contemporary America, we have suggested that traditional exemptions have not necessarily lost their usefulness. In a conscripted military, equity considerations are important to one other argument often advanced against volunteer forces or conscription per se: a need to protect the poor from providing a disproportionate share of military manpower either by filling most of the ranks of a volunteer military or because draft law is biased against the wealthy. With all troops subject to a lottery, inequality, only to the degree that effort or luck determines the outcome, is eliminated. The "fair share" argument, to be sure, is a catch-22 kind of reasoning in the current national environment. All things being equal, high-income draftees will seek the same institutional escape hatches that have been successfully sought after by those high-income persons enrolled in the present selective service. Of course, few chose the life of a boat person in preference to the life of a corporate raider. Since higher-income could easily become exempt from a military draft, there are political/philosophical reasons as well as practical military ones for questioning ethical arguments which permit such self-exemption.

3.3. Civic Duty and National Service

While a military draft might not be the best response to the need for national service, it is certainly politically feasible, and that in itself can make all citizens feel connected to their country and part of a community. States have an obligation to ensure the safety of their citizens; all state institutions exist for the purpose of providing security for the entire population. Through public discussion, the burden of security could be a shared civic duty, rather than a responsibility of the poorest and most disadvantaged. A civilian draft on behalf of the population—an initiative that has become common practice in the United States—could offer at least three advantages: broadening and diversifying the troops pool (and making it more efficient), enhancing overall security (because of a more concerned public), and encouraging young people to contribute something to the welfare and freedom of their country. Furthermore, allowing only poor individuals to opt for military service, due to the financial incentives, is simply unfair. Despite the many arguments that have been advanced against a draft, the simplest argument is that no one should be forced to fight for a country to which they do not feel loyal. This is not to deny the existence of national loyalty, a sense of pride in belonging to a particular community, nor the many people who have a sense of obligation to their state. The United States is living proof of the existence of both. But there is certainly no need to reinforce national feelings that are a potential source of international tension. Strong professional and free armies are possible, but expensive, and they discourage society from studying wars and the steps that must be taken in order to prevent them. If national service isn't experienced at some point in a person's life, he or she may not understand society to be the positive sum game that it is. The phenomenon described as "a civic sickness" can exist only in a market framework, the very source of inequality. Wars can only be avoided when both "domestic disarmament" and "social disarmament" have been achieved. Social sensitivity is the first step we can take towards global peace. All military professionals are aware that the first and most critical lessons in civic life are learned within military organizations.

4. Arguments Against Military Drafts

The military draft is a controversial method of filling the ranks of the U.S. armed services because of the negative consequences often associated with it. In peacetime, the most serious negative consequence is forcing people into combat roles against their will, a form of involuntary servitude. Consequently, some people argue for the abolition of the draft and assert that funding an all-volunteer military is feasible. Others, however, believe a draft is necessary, even during peacetime. The most salient drawbacks of a draft or conscription are its firm limits of individual freedom and potential abuses of the rights of those selected. Involuntary servitude, the foundation of the antebellum slave system, is often identified as the defining characteristic of the practice. Each case of conscription entails the suspension of the rights of all, if only for a set period of time. The preservation of individual rights represents the underlying reason that so few members of Congress have called for resumption of the draft, despite the manifest utility of such a system. Such concerns motivate arguments favoring not only the selective service system but also any proposals that enhance the efficiency of an employed draft policy.

4.1. Individual Freedom and Choice

Freedom to determine one’s future and have it judged in a given society is one of its most highly cherished possessions. The moral argument that people ought to be free to determine their own future is widely held. Children who are born today will have to live with the result of today’s decision to begin war or not. They will also have to bear the responsibility for the decisions of their parents and others. It is argued they ought therefore to have a voice in the decision making. Each individual as he faces death has too great a claim to truth and justice to remain disconnected from the political process of society’s political decisions. In the absence of a peacetime draft, their only voice is their right to vote in the election. They have a right to look to our political machinery as an instrument for reaching truth and justice in the face of death and possibility of maiming. As long as the decision for war can be expected to be made upon the process of this machinery, the political franchise of the 18 or 21-year-old tends to take on a peculiar moral urgency in comparison with other social issues.

4.2. Effectiveness and Efficiency

Progress and prosperity over the past fifty years are very closely associated with the application of the principles of classical economic theory. One of the guiding principles of political economy is that economies function best when resources are allocated efficiently. Efficiency, as it applies to the choice between military conscription and a volunteer force, says that the most cost effective way of staffing the military should also serve the national purpose of the military. If a volunteer force saves national resources, it is more efficient. If military conscription reduces the risk that the nation will lose a war, it might be more effective. The efficiency of a conscript force depends on the price paid because the cost of inefficiency is additional losses or a military more risk of defeat. If the high price paid by the nation for conscription is fewer military victories or heavier losses, military conscription would be a costly method of producing a given number of military bodies. It would be 'economically' inefficient. There are several ways of reflecting the cost to society and the potential danger of maintaining a defense organization by military service at an uneconomic output. Military conscription can be said to be uneconomical when the drain on society's resources in terms of lost output and human imbalance, stifling of social and occupational mobility, and loss of human values exceeds the 'advantages' of lower cost in military personnel.

5. Conclusion

Defenders of the Selective Service System are wrong to exclude women from the military draft on practical, moral, and legal grounds. False myths about physical tests are easily refuted, equity is served by having women serve their nation's cause when their compatriots must or can, and the Equal Protection Clause commands equal scales. This essay concludes by stating the case for the draft on these bases: (1) that fair is fair and that all should bear the burden equally; and (2) that women who are capable should have the opportunity open to men, whose draft is a practical and moral necessity of our national defense. As an institution, the draft fulfills an essential function in the readiness of national defenses or the meeting of national threats to the security of the United States. Its provision does not require. Furthermore, the considerable concentration of resources required to fund the Selective Service System seems to revolve more around developing a systematic machinery for peacetime registration and conducting exigency planning studies, than around obtaining a readily available manpower pool, the majority of whom would be inducted from SSS rosters. These observations have made the reconciling of draft policy with the demands of fiscal austerity and Inc. military planning difficult.

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Should the United States Reinstate the Draft?

The United States ended its military draft in 1973 after nearly 2.2 million men were conscripted during the Vietnam War era. More than 9 million served during that period, but the majority of those draftees were sent to Vietnam.

Consider this: We are 17 years into a "War on Terror" that's come with a $5.6 trillion (and rising) price tag. Our military is currently engaged in an overwhelming number of overseas missions, including a growing number of natural disaster-related deployments . The number of fatal human-error incidents in the military has reached an unprecedented level. Our nation is $20 trillion in debt, and climbing.

Add these facts together, and it begs the question: Can an all-volunteer military force stand ready to answer the call? Will the demands prove greater than our resources?

'Not Much in the Barn if Something Breaks'

"If there's a bullet flying anywhere on the planet, Marines want to be there. However, if something big breaks, there ain't a lot in the barn," said Lt. Gen. Robert Hedelund, commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force.

Hedelund was speaking at the 2017 Expeditionary Warfare Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, about Marine Corps readiness. Hedelund, along with other high-ranking military officials and veterans, has warned that our military is at a critical crossroads and might be hard-pressed to meet the global demands of numerous ongoing missions as we face low recruitment and retention rates.

Not enough in the barn, indeed. According to a map published by the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the U.S. is waging the war on terror in 76 countries. That's 40 percent of the countries on this planet.

However, this figure may be low and not accurately reflect our total number of secret ongoing special ops deployments. Sources at U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) say the number of countries where the U.S. is waging war on terrorism is much higher, perhaps even as high as 70 percent.

But what would it take to reinstate a military draft?

"Some kind of mass-mobilization; a war on Korean peninsula, or a more conventional confrontation with Russia or China," retired Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich says.

Laich is the author of "Skin in the Game" and founder and executive director of the All-Volunteer Force forum, which contends that our current all-volunteer military is "unfair, inefficient, and unsustainable and contributes to the civil-military gap and the militarization of U.S. foreign policy."

 He argues that it might not take the threat of a rogue nation to initiate a draft -- rather, it may be a crisis based on manpower.

"If you do the math, only three out of 10 Americans meet the criteria to serve, and only 15 percent of those able have the propensity to serve," Laich says. "This is unsustainable, especially with an interventionist strategy where America's forces are the global police force and the rest of the world is content [with] letting us play that role."

Laich and many others argue that an all-volunteer force is a fiscal disaster in the long run. There are currently unprecedented incentives for joining the military, some as high as $40,000. Given our current level of debt, he says this trend is "unsustainable" and that "we can't afford the all-volunteer force that we have today."

And Laich contends that this money is clearly an incentive for the socio-economic underclass, which brings the issue of fairness into focus.

"Drafts have never been fair," he says. "But the fact is an all-volunteer force gives us 330 million people that are not obligated to protect and defend. They don't have skin in the game."

The U.S. Military: a Global Interventionist Police Force?

Dr. Andrew Bacevich, retired Army colonel  who served in Vietnam and the Gulf War, argues that the root cause of our endless wars is an all-volunteer force because not enough Americans have "skin in the game."

"We currently have two war parties, even if Democrats and Republicans use different language in describing the purposes of the wars they support," he says.

Bacevich's solution? "We need to have another party that is, if not anti-war, at least anti-interventionist."

Bacevich, professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University, is critical of American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era. He maintains that after the Cold War, Washington came to see military power as a tool to solve problems instead of relying on diplomacy.

He also contends that popular culture has given rise to an unrealistic portrayal of what war is really like, simultaneously promoting war as heroic as well as the stereotype of the broken warrior with PTSD . Some say these misconceptions only widen the gap of understanding between the civilian and military populations.

Bacevich's only son, Andrew Bacevich Jr., also an Army officer, died fighting in the Iraq War in May 2007.

Can More Veterans in Congress Be a Solution?

The cross-partisan organization With Honor seeks to help more veterans get into Congress and perhaps bring us back to a time when the goal of war was peace rather than one based on intervention.

According to With Honor, veterans represented more than half of Congress for much of the second half of the 20th century. Today, veteran representation in Congress is near a historic low at 19 percent.

"Veterans took an oath to support and defend the Constitution," said John Mahony, a Marine infantry officer veteran and chief operating officer of With Honor. "They know what it means to put the country's interests ahead of their own and, by placing mission accomplishment first, have often been leaders who have made a difference by working together to solve our nation's largest problems."

Bacevich isn't convinced that veterans can do a better job at handling the way our military forces are deployed but says he wholeheartedly supports more veterans in Congress.

National Pride in Service to Our Country

Of course, not everyone believes that compulsory service is the only answer.

Retired Air Force Col. Dan Merry, the vice president of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), believes an all-volunteer force is the only way forward.

"MOAA's position on the draft has been consistent," Merry says. "We support the all-volunteer 'career' force as a necessary component of a strong national defense."

It's also clear that the government is serious about investigating not only how to bridge the gap between civilian and military populations, but how to inspire the American public to serve.

The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service was created by Congress to consider and develop recommendations about whether we need a military draft. It's also charged with finding ways to foster a greater attitude and ethos of service among American youth. Established on Sept. 19, 2017, the commission intends to issue its final report no later than March 2020 and conclude its work by September 2020.

The commission hopes to ignite a national conversation around service and, ultimately, develop recommendations that will encourage every American to be inspired and eager to serve. It is currently looking for your input.

You can provide your comments directly through the commission's website .

Share your thoughts on these seven questions:

Is a military draft or draft contingency still a necessary component of U.S. national security?

Are modifications to the Selective Service system needed?

How can the U.S. increase participation in military, national and public service by individuals with skills critical to address the national security and other public service needs of the nation?

What are the barriers to participation in military, national or public service?

Does service have inherent value and, if so, what is it?

Is a mandatory service requirement for all Americans necessary, valuable and feasible?

How does the U.S. increase the propensity for Americans, particularly young Americans, to serve?

What do you think? Should the United States institute compulsory service?

-- Sean Mclain Brown can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmclainbrown  

Sean Mclain Brown

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List of 12 Key Pros and Cons of Military Draft

Debate on whether military draft is necessary has been on-going for years with proponents and opponents belonging in all walks of life expressing their points of view. Contentions about serving one’s country voluntarily or mandatorily have been brought up and discussed in different platforms. Some supporters are saying military draft should return because what of what it can contribute to the nation and the citizenry.

What Is a Military Draft?

Also known as conscription, it is a system that requires individuals between 18-25 years old to enlist and serve in the military if they are eligible to join the service after assessment. Drafted men and women will undergo months of training and be sent to wars or assigned to designations in the military.

While there are some who are supporters, there are non-conformists as well. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory enlistment in the military people are talking about.

List of Pros of Military Draft

1. It assures national security. With strengthening the number of service men and women to defend the country when national security is put on the line, the country will be safer. There will be enough soldiers to fight in times of war, be it a civil war or one where many countries are involved. Since having casualties is inevitable, it is best to have other soldiers to replace those who will be injured or killed in the battle and a military draft can make this possible.

2. It is contributory to building character. Military draft is for people 18 years old and above and most of the draftees belong to the youth. This experience will teach them to be respectful of authority, enhance their leadership skills and have self-discipline. These are character traits they can use even after military service and throughout their lives. Moreover, young people will learn how to take on great responsibilities not only to the community but to the nation and the world.

3. It can reduce unemployment in the long run. As drafted soldiers, men and women will be taught skills and given training in engineering, IT and the like since they will be assigned to different departments and given duties from cooking to driving. After they are done serving the military, they can use these newly learned skills and expertise when they go back to the real world and seek employment.

4. It is a great way to travel and learn new cultures. One of the benefits of being drafted in the military is the opportunity given to people to travel the world and learn about other countries and cultures. Soldiers are sent to war-stricken countries as well nations in need of relief and help. The experiences they gain from meeting other nationalities and at the same time helping other people enrich them as human beings. They gain knowledge and learn about compassion.

5. It creates equality and diversity. In conscription, there is no rich or poor, no social status to take into consideration since everyone who is eligible will be included in the list. People, especially the youth will learn how to mingle with other people from all walks of life, with no special treatment whatsoever. They will learn about equality. Sons and daughters of leaders and children of ordinary citizens will be treated fairly and at the same level.

6. With children of politicians included in a military draft, there will be no abrupt decisions in getting into war. Some powerful countries with sufficient weaponry and resources often are too eager to strike and threaten smaller countries. However, if their sons and daughters are in military service, they will think twice before instigating war with other nations. This will avoid unnecessary wars and save more lives. Instead, leaders will be more diplomatic in their decisions.

7. It cuts down expenses of the government to have enlisted soldiers than an all-volunteer force. With people mandated to military service, there is no need to spend for convincing them to join by way of giving free tuition for college, salaries and sign-up bonuses. These are some of the expenses the government will incur with recruiting men and women to volunteer as soldiers.

List of Cons of Military Draft

1. It takes away precious time from the youth. One of the disadvantages of military draft which critics are pointing out is the time that will be lost by the young men and women forced to join the military. They say that the years spent in the military will affect their transition from high school to college.

2. Not all drafted soldiers are as competent as professional soldiers. Opponents say that professional soldiers spend years of training especially for combat. They have enough time to train physically and emotionally unlike drafted soldiers who only get months of training with inefficient training courses.

3. Compulsory service in the military creates more expenses for the government. Another disadvantage of conscription, according to groups that are against military draft, is the cost of having to train a large number of people especially if the country is not in imminent threat. Aside from the direct expenses, there are other expenditures conscription entails, not to mention the work force that is lost during the service.

4. It is one of the ways to strengthen militarism which should be avoided. Those who are opposed to military draft has expressed concerns that forcing people to join the military, regardless of the social status, is imposing militarism on the society. Case in point, if professionals like engineers, lawyers and doctors are drafted, even the lowest ranking soldier will be superior to them. This is what opponents are not agreeable with. Moreover, even if a lawyer or a professional is called to serve for a few months, his or her educational background might not be of much help given the short time of service.

5. Not all drafted soldiers are members of the youth but older individuals with family. For some critics, the number of young people does not constitute all soldiers in the military draft. There are husbands and wives with children and families left behind. In the end, it is the family that suffers.

Political leaders aim to protect their countries and defend their territories from enemies. However, is military draft the only solution? Should citizens be forced to risk their lives to fight for their country? Leaders should take into consideration the benefits and drawbacks of military draft and see if the good effects outweigh the bad.

The Military Draft During the Vietnam War

In November 1965, draftees are leacing Ann Arbor, MI to be processed and sent to basic training camps. The November 1965 draft call was the largest since the Korean War.

The Draft in Context

The military draft brought the war to the American home front. During the Vietnam War era, between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. military drafted 2.2 million American men out of an eligible pool of 27 million.  Although only 25 percent of the military force in the combat zones were draftees, the system of conscription caused many young American men to volunteer for the armed forces in order to have more of a choice of which division in the military they would serve. While many soldiers did support the war, at least initially, to others the draft seemed like a death sentence: being sent to a war and fight for a cause that they did not believe in. Some sought refuge in college or parental deferments; others intentionally failed aptitude tests or otherwise evaded; thousands fled to Canada; the politically connected sought refuge in the National Guard; and a growing number engaged in direct resistance. Antiwar activists viewed the draft as immoral and the only means for the government to continue the war with fresh soldiers. Ironically, as the draft continued to fuel the war effort, it also intensified the antiwar cause. Although the Selective Service’s deferment system meant that men of lower socioeconomic standing were most likely to be sent to the front lines, no one was completely safe from the draft. Almost every American was either eligible to go to war or knew someone who was.

Selective Service induction statistics during the Vietnam War era.

History of the Draft

Conscription during the 1960s took place under the legal authority of the peacetime draft, because the United States never formally declared war on North Vietnam. Legal authority for a peacetime draft came from the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to mobilize American civilian-soldiers in anticipation of entry into World War II. During the Korean War, the Selective Service began the policy of granting deferments to college students with an academic ranking in the top half of their class. Between 1954-1964, from the end of the Korean War until the escalation in Vietnam, the “peacetime” draft inducted more than 1.4 million American men, an average of more than 120,000 per year. As part of their Cold War mission, many state universities required ROTC training by male students, although campus protests caused administrators to begin repealing mandatory ROTC in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

President John F. Kennedy, who began the escalation of the American military presence in Vietnam, also defended the peacetime draft and the Selective Service in 1962 statement, stating that “I cannot think of any branch of our government in the last two decades where there have been so few complaints about inequity.” One year later, the Pentagon acknowledged the usefulness of conscription, because one-third of enlisted soldiers and two-fifths of officers “would not have entered the service if not for the draft as a motivator.” The Selective Service also authorized deferments for men who planned to study for careers labeled as “vital” to national security interests, such as physics and engineering, which exacerbated the racial and socioeconomic inequalities of the Vietnam-era draft. Of the 2.5 million enlisted men who served during Vietnam, 80 percent came from poor or working-class families, and the same ratio only had a high school education. According to Christian Appy in Working-Class War , “most of the Americans who fought in Vietnam were powerless, working-class teenagers sent to fight an undeclared war by presidents for whom they were not even eligible to vote.”     

In the 1964 Presidential election,

LBJ makes a speechwhere he

promises to not escalate the war

in Vietnam. 

Broken Promises Lead to Discontent

Lyndon Johnson ran as the “peace” candidate in his 1964 campaign against conservative Barry Goldwater, who wanted to escalate the military offensive against North Vietnam and the Viet Cong guerillas. In October, at a campaign appearance in Ohio, Johnson promised that “we are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” But in the months after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Johnson rapidly increased the U.S. military presence in the defense of South Vietnam, with 184,000 troops stationed there by the end of 1965. During that pivotal year, while UM professors organized the first Vietnam teach-in and Students for a Democratic Society launched the campus antiwar movement, the U.S. military drafted 230,991 more young men. During the next four years, the Selective Service inducted an average of around 300,000 young men annually--including a significant percentage of the 58,156 American troops who would die in the conflict.  

America Had No Choice But to Escalate?

In July 1965, at the beginning of this steady escalation, President Johnson attempted to explain the need for increased military intervention in Vietnam in a press conference announcing that draft inductions would increase from 17,000 to 35,000 per month. LBJ started his address by quoting a letter from an American mother asking why her son had to serve in Vietnam for a cause that she did not understand. The president rephrased the question in his own words: “ Why must young Americans, born into a land exultant with hope and with golden promise, toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and distant place?” Johnson lamented his responsibility “to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle” and said he knew “how their mothers weep and how their families sorrow.” But, he explained, America had no choice, because North Vietnam and Communist China sought to “conquer the South, to defeat American power, and to extend the Asiatic dominion of communism. . . . An Asia so threatened by Communist domination would certainly imperil the security of the United States itself.”  

President LBJ discusses why the U.S. is at war with Vietnam in a 1968 speech entitled, "Why Are We in Vietnam?"

Feelings Towards the Draft

The military draft and the escalation of the Vietnam war played a major role in turning direct action resistance into a mass movement on college campuses in the mid-1960s, including at the University of Michigan. In a 1965 Michigan Daily article, experts unveiled the fear that the military was not receiving enough volunteers and recognized the need to make military service more attractive to well-educated Americans, not just to those who had no other option but enlistment or induction. Bill Ayers, a UM student activist who was arrested in a 1965 sit-in at the Selective Service Office, discussed how conscription can actually benefit society in a 2015 interview. First, he argued, because the draft affects the people around an individual, they are more likely to pay attention to the foreign policy decisions being made by the government. Therefore, Americans in the era of the draft were much more actively engaged in politics and in questioning the true consequences of foreign policy decisions. Second, Ayers pointed out that an all-volunteer military has created a poor man’s army, because enlistment is attractive to individuals who have no other options because they are poor or uneducated.

Bill Ayers says the draft made people, who were normally

unaware of U.S. foreign policy decisions, more concious to

what was going on.

On December 1, 1969, the first draft lottery since 1942 began, but college deferments were kept intact. Anti-war activists recognized the draft lottery system did not produce truly random results. The draft received even more resistance as dissenters became more frustrated with the system. Finally, Nixon ended the draft in January 1973, but by then the war was almost over.

Citations for this page (individual document citations are at the full document links).

1. Michael S. Foley, Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance during the Vietnam War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), esp. pp. 35-40; Christian G. Appy, Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993), esp. pp. 1-43 (quotation p. 27).

2.  Selective Service System, “Induction Statistics, < https://www.sss.gov/induct.htm >, accessed April 26, 2015.

3.  Lyndon B. Johnson, “Remarks in Memorial Hall, Akron University,” October 21, 1964, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States , 1964, Book II, pp. 1391-1393

4.  Lyndon B. Johnson, “The President’s News Conference: Why Are We in Vietnam?” July 28, 1965, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States , 1965, Book II, pp. 794-803 .

5.  “Experts See Changes Needed in Draft Policy,” Michigan Daily , May 20 1965.

6. Interview of Bill Ayers by Obadiah Brown and Chris Haughey, March 26th, 2015.

Michigan in the World features exhibitions of research conducted by undergraduate students about the history of the University of Michigan and its relationships beyond its borders.

Military Draft Argumentative Essay

Related essays:.

Women Should Be Included in the Military Draft if the President Activates It

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Introduction

History of the military draft, advantages of drafting, why women should be drafted, challenges faced by women in the military, works cited.

For president Obama, public service has been the basis of his life. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that the American people lack adequate opportunity to serve their country even though they may be willing. Therefore, the Obama-Biden campaign plan promised to expand the military and involve the youth in serving at the community level whether as first responders or teachers and at the national level as part of the military (Obama official website 2). This could imply the reactivation of the military draft. As of Jan. 20, 2005, 16% of active duty military comprised of women, this is about 224,000 women (Blankenship, 40). The 2000 Census estimates that 6.6 million of the 8.5 million health care practitioners, technical and support occupations are women (Vlamos 9). This means that if there is to be a military draft, whether due to the need of health workers, or the already existing and growing numbers of women in the military, women should definitely be included in the draft.

In olden times, while men fought the wars women stayed at home and attended to domestic needs. It is only until the late 20th century that women were allowed to join the military. However, up to date, women are still barred from holding some positions in the military, mostly combat positions (Blankenship 40).

The military draft was initiated to allow the president to register males, but not females, for possible military service. The underlying reason for excluding females was the general assumption that since women could not be involved in combat, and the reason for recruitment was combat, then it followed that they could not be required to register (Brown 1). In 1980, President Carter attempted to reactivate the military draft; he also suggested that Congress amend the Act to allow for women to be enlisted in the military. Congress however did not agree to the latter and women once again were barred from registering in the military (Cornell University Law School website 1).

In Rostker versus Goldberg of 1981, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the practice of registering only males for the draft was constitutional. Goldberg was among several men who had attempted to challenge the gender distinction as unconstitutional. Rostker is the name of the defendant (Cornell University Law School web site 1)

Men who failed to register for the military draft were denied privileges like bursaries, could not take up government jobs and in some cases they were to serve a jail sentence (Brown 1). Enlisting in the military opens up opportunities for career advancements for men and women alike. Also, it gives one a chance to be involved in public service.

Numbers in the Health Sector

Health care workers formed a large part of the draft to fight the Korean and Vietnam wars between 1950 and 1973 (Vlamos 5). In 1975 with the end of the Vietnam War the draft ended, it was later picked up later by President Carter in 1980. In 1988, the Selective Service System (SSS) was instructed by Congress to start marshalling health care workers for the military in readiness for any military crisis. Figures from the 2000 Census show that 6.6 million out of 8.5 million of health care workers, both medics and paramedics, are women (Vlamos 9). This indeed is an astronomical number! Lew Brodsky, director of congressional and government affairs for the SSS stated that it was virtually impossible to have a military draft for the health work force that excludes women (as quoted by Vlamos 2).

Military Exploits by Women

The famous quote “What a man can do, a woman can do better” reminds me of the story of Dahomey. In West Africa in a city called Benin, the kingdom of Dahomey was ruled by a strong and successful army of women who fought so bravely and ferociously. The French Foreign Legionnaires after seeing them in action were appalled by how they were mightier than the men in their land! (Edgerton, 2)

The number of women in the U.S military is expanding by and large. Whereas traditionally, women’s role was restricted to feeding the soldiers and nursing the wounded, women now are taking up more combatant roles. Data borrowed from Pedergast reveals that while the 1990 Panama invasion involved eight hundred women, 42,782 women fought in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm as part of the army (Weinstein and White XV).

Equality Pleas

Feminists have for a long time fought for “equality” with men in all spheres. Therefore, a possibility of drafting women in the military should be received with shouts of joy from the feminists. Years back, voting was the exclusive privilege of men. When some women activists began campaigning for voting rights for women, not only did they receive criticism from men but also from their fellow women who thought that they were “pushing it too far”. Thankfully, they did not give up and today it is the unquestionable right of every woman in America to vote. Those against women being drafted have cited reasons such as women’s lack of physical strength in comparison. The case of Nicholson does not support this. Single handedly 21-year-old Jessica Nicholson physically wrestled an Iraqi man at a check point and detained him. She had discovered explosives in his car (Blankenship 40). Nicholson received an Army Commendation Medal.

Rita Simon, a Professor at American University, confessed her hope that radical feminists would jump at the idea of drafting women to the military as this would be a display of equality in action. Simon went further to suggest that this should not be limited to the health care but should extend to all spheres of the military (as quoted in Vlamos 11). Rita comes out strongly as supporting the drafting of females too, though it is hard to ascertain whether she is pro- feminism or is just making a mock at the feminist movement.

Change in War Strategies

The presumed lack of physical strength for combat is what has been largely used to bar women from drafting. Women generally lack upper body strength. However, today’s war has less to do with physical strength and more to do with mental capabilities, of which women can equally compete. Modern technology ensures that hand-to-hand combat is minimal, if any (Weinstein & White 57). However, in the worst case scenario where physical strength has to be heavily relied upon, women have proven able to compete. In a study by the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, it was found that of the 41 women studied 75% of them were found fit for military duties traditionally assigned to males (Weinstein & White 57).

Janie Blankenship talking about the war in Iraq says that the lines are blurred so much so that one can hardly distinguish a combat role from a support role. In the same article, Army Captain Kellie McCoy is quoted telling The New York Daily News how virtually everywhere in Iraq, as long as it’s out of the base camp, is front line and therefore combat (Blankenship, 40).

Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness, mentions the case of female truck drivers in Iraq who unintentionally enter into combat with insurgents while going about their support duties. When the situation presents, one has to deal with it (as qtd in Blankenship, 40).

Discrimination

Audrey Kurth Cronin, a professor at Georgetown University notes with enthusiasm the expanding role of women in the military. But he doubts the existence of any positive feelings in the political parts of the divide, mostly among men (Vlamos 4). Cynthia Enloe in her book Does khaki become you narrates how the military is a patriarchal institution run by men to meet the desires of men exclusively. Women only come in as “patch-ups” to meet the other needs that men cannot meet by themselves for example act as prostitutes (Enloe 7). What degradation! In his book, Weak Link: The Feminization of The American Military, Brian Mitchell grossly undermines the potential of women in the military saying that women are less efficient than men in many spheres (Mitchel 1). This is not true as women have consistently proved themselves in history and Mr. Mitchell only has construed facts and opinions on the matter.

Biased Admission to Military Schools

Owing to the long held belief that the military is an exclusive preserve of men, military schools in the United States took a long while to admit women. Virginia Military Institute (one of the late adapters), believing that they were upholding family values, defended their stand before the Supreme Court in January 1996 barring female students from the institution (Weinstein &White 63). Previously in 1994, Shannon Faulkner attempted to gain entry to Citadel by not revealing her gender, upon been discovered her offer was withdrawn on the grounds of “wrong gender”. This just goes to reveal the gross prejudice against women as concerns the military. Faulkner later contested the withdrawal of offer in court, won the case and was admitted to the 1995 fall class. Faulkner however dropped out later because of the strain caused by the all-masculine institution (Weinstein & white 55).

Sexual Harassment

The infamous Tailhook scandal where over one hundred officers sexually harassed female colleagues but were never convicted is just one of the few we got to hear about. Women in the military are harassed quite often (Hoppen 14). The situation is even worse in the military due to the strict adherence to the chain of command. A woman may have to take orders and still depend on a senior officer who has sexually harassed her thereby worsening her plight.

The military’s cruelty to women extends beyond the confines of the military. There was a song called “Hadji girl” whose lyrics talked about a young girl who was raped by male soldiers. Soon after the release of this song, Steven Green a 21 year old who had been released from the military recently master minded an attack by the military that left a Sunni girl together with her family dead. The cold blood murder of Abir and her family closely mimicked the lyrics of ‘Hadji girl’ (Seelhoff 19).

Jane Hoppen illustrates the complexity of Military sexual trauma by explaining the camaraderie relationship that ideally should be in place in the military. A soldier must trust his or her fellow soldier to guard their back at all times. Now in the event of sexual harassment by a colleague, the offended party’s confidence in the principle of camaraderie is eroded. One is merely held captive by it (14).

Military sexual trauma (MST) thrives because the military is patriarchal in essence. Women in the military are expected to be strong enough to defend themselves because after all how can one be trusted to defend the country as a whole if they cannot defend themselves. There is generally great pressure for women to prove they are able and therefore in the event of sexual assault by male counterparts they may be ashamed to talk about it and seek redress. Then again as earlier mentioned is the issue of chain of command. An assaulted party may be dependent on the assaulter for any form of career progression. So one is left with two awful options; either to surrender and resign from a career they had worked so hard for or to endure the assault and act like it never happened (Hoppen 14).

Twice before in the history of America has the issue of not drafting women to the military been challenged. First there was the 1980 scenario where President Carter asked Congress to amend the Draft Act to allow women to be registered and conscripted, if need arises into the military. When congress declined, the case was taken up by several men including one Robert L. Goldberg and several other men who questioned whether the gender distinction was within the confines of the constitution. This too was overruled by the Supreme Court based on the argument of lack of women’s involvement in combat (Cornell University School of Law website 1). Later in 2004 when George Bush was in power and John Kerry, then senator, was seeking presidential office, some teenagers filed a suit seeking the inclusion of females in the draft. On October 5 of that year the Military Draft Bill was overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Representatives in a vote of 402-2, because the key words within the selective service act “male citizen” had been replaced by “Every citizen” thereby implying the inclusion of women in the draft (Brown 1). For the second time the attempt at including women in the military draft had failed.

In the past, the crux of the matter has lied within the word “Combat” that has previously excluded women. However, with the changes in today’s shape and direction of war, combat has lost its essence. Modern technology has done away with fist fights and any form of direct combat in most circumstances of war. Wars are fought with missiles, bombs and nuclear weapons and not spears, fists and stones. Quoting captain McCoy on the Iraq war, he says that it is very hard to draw battle lines as anywhere out of the base camp could be front line and therefore combat (Blankenship, 40). Figures from the Iraq war support this: As of Jan. 20, 2005, some 33 women soldiers in Iraq and 5 in Afghanistan had been killed while at war. Most likely they had been involved in combat. Also, some 250 women had been wounded in war (Blankenship 40). With the eventual acceptance of women into military schools for military training, women have been able to train and work as effective combat troops in the military. Though women are still restricted from holding certain exalted positions in the military, they are at times called upon to offer leadership and engage in combat in the field when an unforeseen circumstance comes upon them (Enloe 7).

In the Barack Obama and Joe Biden campaign, they passionately talked about inspiring Americans from all walks of life to engage in service. They promised to provide the architecture to help Americans be able to achieve this. Barack Obama and Joe Biden had plans to enlarge the marines by about 27,000 troops and the army by about 65,000 soldiers (Barack Obama website 2). This indeed is a tall order. And with the overwhelming percentage of women in the health sector, they will definitely need to be incorporated into the database to raise such a big number.

The scenario we are dealing with here is a twisted one, whereas twice we have failed in pushing for the inclusion of women in the military draft, we are still very convinced that this time women must be included in the draft if at all the president must activate it. True, times have changed and the mere definition and strategies of war have changed with the times. Women have proven themselves to be competent soldiers and able to endure intense battle. Moreover for many years women have campaigned for equal rights with men and America is one nation that boasts of affording equality to its citizens with no regard to gender. So far, we have done well in granting equality to women, therefore the president could only do better by including women in the military draft and history will judge him well for furthering the course of equality for all people.

Blankenship, Janie. “Ever-changing Roles of Women in the Military”. Veterans of Foreign Wars 92. (2005): 40.

Brown, Kanika. “Is America ready to see Women in the Draft?” The Spokesman, Morgan State University . 2004. Web.

Cornell University Law School. “Rotker v. Goldberg.” Cornell University , 2010. Web.

Edgerton, Robert B. Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War . Boulder: West view Press, 2000.

Enloe, Cynthia. Does Khaki Become You? New York: Photo press, 1983.

Mitchelle, Brian. Weak link: The Feminization of the American Military . New York: Regnery publishers, 1989.

Obama official website. “Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan for Universal Voluntary Citizen Service.” Organizing for America , 2008.

Seelhoff, Cheryl L. Women and the Military: the Rape of the “hadji Girl”. Off Our Backs. 36.2 (2006) 19.

Vlamos, Kelley. “Future Military Draft could include Women.” Foxnews , 2001. Web.

Weinstein, Laurie, and Christie White, eds. Wives and Warriors: Women and the Military in the United State and Canada . Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 1997.

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Building the Essay Draft

Building a strong essay draft requires going through a logical progression of stages:, explanation.

Development options

Linking paragraphs

Introductions

Conclusions.

Revising and proofreading the draft

Hints for revising and proofreading

Tip: After you have completed the body of your paper, you can decide what you want to say in your introduction and in your conclusion.

Once you know what you want to talk about and you have written your thesis statement, you are ready to build the body of your essay.

The thesis statement will usually be followed by

• the body of the paper
• the paragraphs that develop the thesis by explaining your ideas by backing them up 
• examples or evidence

Tip: The "examples or evidence" stage is the most important part of the paper, because you are giving your reader a clear idea of what you think and why you think it.

Development Options

• For each reason you have to support your thesis, remember to state your point clearly and explain it.

Tip: Read your thesis sentence over and ask yourself what questions a reader might ask about it. Then answer those questions, explaining and giving examples or evidence.

Show how one thing is similar to another, and then how the two are different, emphasizing the side that seems more important to you. For example, if your thesis states, "Jazz is a serious art form," you might compare and contrast a jazz composition to a classical one.

Show your reader what the opposition thinks (reasons why some people do not agree with your thesis), and then refute those reasons (show why they are wrong).  On the other hand, if you feel that the opposition isn't entirely wrong, you may say so, (concede), but then explain why your thesis is still the right opinion.

• Think about the order in which you have made your points. Why have you presented a certain reason that develops your thesis first, another second? If you can't see any particular value in presenting your points in the order you have, reconsider it until you either decide why the order you have is best, or change it to one that makes more sense to you.
• Does each paragraph develop my thesis?
• Have I done all the development I wish had been done?
• Am I still satisfied with my working thesis, or have I developed my body in ways that mean I must adjust my thesis to fit what I have learned, what I believe, and what I have actually discussed?

Linking Paragraphs

It is important to link your paragraphs together, giving your readers cues so that they see the relationship between one idea and the next, and how these ideas develop your thesis.

Your goal is a smooth transition from paragraph A to paragraph B, which explains why cue words that link paragraphs are often called "transitions."

Tip: Your link between paragraphs may not be one word, but several, or even a whole sentence.

Here are some ways of linking paragraphs:

• To show simply that another idea is coming, use words such as "also," "moreover," or "in addition."
• To show that the next idea is the logical result of the previous one, use words such as "therefore," "consequently," "thus," or "as a result."
• To show that the next idea seems to go against the previous one, or is not its logical result, use words such as "however," "nevertheless," or "still."
• To show you've come to your strongest point, use words such as "most importantly."
• To show you've come to a change in topic, use words such as "on the other hand."
• To show you've come to your final point, use words such as "finally."

After you have come up with a thesis and developed it in the body of your paper, you can decide how to introduce your ideas to your reader.

The goals of an introduction are to

• Get your reader's attention/arouse your reader's curiosity.
• Provide any necessary background information before you state your thesis (often the last sentence of the introductory paragraph).
• Establish why you are writing the paper.

Tip: You already know why you are writing, and who your reader is; now present that reason for writing to that reader.

Hints for writing your introduction:

• Use the Ws of journalism (who, what, when, where, why) to decide what information to give. (Remember that a history teacher doesn't need to be told "George Washington was the first president of the United States." Keep your reader in mind.)
• Add another "W": Why (why is this paper worth reading)? The answer could be that your topic is new, controversial, or very important.
• Catch your reader by surprise by starting with a description or narrative that doesn't hint at what your thesis will be. For example, a paper could start, "It is less than a 32nd of an inch long, but it can kill an adult human," to begin a paper about eliminating malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

There can be many different conclusions to the same paper (just as there can be many introductions), depending on who your readers are and where you want to direct them (follow-up you expect of them after they finish your paper). Therefore, restating your thesis and summarizing the main points of your body should not be all that your conclusion does. In fact, most weak conclusions are merely restatements of the thesis and summaries of the body without guiding the reader toward thinking about the implications of the thesis.

Here are some options for writing a strong conclusion:

Make a prediction about the future. You convinced the reader that thermal energy is terrific, but do you think it will become the standard energy source? When?

Give specific advice. If your readers now understand that multicultural education has great advantages, or disadvantages, or both, whatever your opinion might be, what should they do? Whom should they contact?

Put your topic in a larger context. Once you have proven that physical education should be part of every school's curriculum, perhaps readers  should consider other "frill" courses which are actually essential.

Tip: Just as a conclusion should not be just a restatement of your thesis and summary of your body, it also should not be an entirely new topic, a door opened that you barely lead your reader through and leave them there lost. Just as in finding your topic and in forming your thesis, the safe and sane rule in writing a conclusion is this:  neither too little nor too much.

Revising and Proofreading the Draft

Writing is only half the job of writing..

The writing process begins even before you put pen to paper, when you think about your topic. And, once you finish actually writing, the process continues. What you have written is not the finished essay, but a first draft, and you must go over many times to improve it--a second draft, a third draft, and so on until you have as many as necessary to do the job right. Your final draft, edited and proofread, is your essay, ready for your reader's eyes.

A revision is a "re-vision" of your essay--how you see things now, deciding whether your introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion really express your own vision. Revision is global, taking another look at what ideas you have included in your paper and how they are arranged.

Proofreading

Proofreading is checking over a draft to make sure that everything is complete and correct as far as spelling, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and other such matters go. It's a necessary, if somewhat tedious and tricky, job one that a friend or computer Spellcheck can help you perform. Proofreading is polishing, one spot at a time.

Tip: Revision should come before proofreading: why polish what you might be changing anyway?

Hints for revising and proofreading:

• Leave some time--an hour, a day, several day--between writing and revising. You need some distance to switch from writer to editor, some distance between your initial vision and your re-vision.
• Double-check your writing assignment to be sure you haven't gone off course . It is all right if you've shifted from your original plan, if you know why and are happier with this direction.  Make sure that you are actually following your mentor's assignment.
• Read aloud slowly . You need to get your eye and your ear to work together. At any point that something seems awkward, read it over again. If you're not sure what's wrong--or even if something is wrong--make a notation in the margin and come back to it later. Watch out for "padding;" tighten your sentences to eliminate excess words that dilute your ideas.
• Be on the lookout for points that seem vague or incomplete ; these could present opportunities for rethinking, clarifying, and further developing an idea.
• Get to know what your particular quirks are as a writer. Do you give examples without explaining them, or forget links between paragraphs? Leave time for an extra rereading to look for any weak points.
• Get someone else into the act. Have others read your draft, or read it to them. Invite questions and ask questions yourself, to see if your points are clear and well-developed. Remember, though, that some well-meaning readers can be too easy (or too hard) on a piece of writing.

Tip: Never change anything unless you are convinced that it should be changed .

• Keep tools at hand, such as a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a writing handbook.
• While you're using word processing, remember that computers are wonderful resources for editing and revising.
• When you feel you've done everything you can, first by revising and then by proofreading, and have a nice clean, final draft, put it aside and return later to re-see the whole essay. There may be some last minute fine-tuning that can make all the difference.

Don't forget--if you would like help with at this point in your assignment or any other type of writing assignment, learning coaches are available to assist you.  Please contact Academic Support by emailing [email protected] ; calling 1-800-847-3000, ext 3008; or calling the main number of the location in your region to schedule an appointment. Use this resource to find more information about Academic Support .

Don't forget--if you would like help with at this point in your assignment or any other type of writing assignment, learning coaches are available to assist you.  Please contact Academic Support by emailing [email protected] ; calling 1-800-847-3000, ext 3008; or calling the main number of the location in your region (click  here for more information) to schedule an appointment.

Need Assistance?

If you would like assistance with any type of writing assignment, learning coaches are available to assist you. Please contact Academic Support by emailing [email protected].

Questions or feedback about SUNY Empire's Writing Support?

Contact us at [email protected] .

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Notes From a Writer's Desk: How to Build a First Draft from an Outline

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You’ve decided to write a paper or fellowship application, but now it’s time to start drafting. There are almost no sights more intimidating to an academic than a blank page that you hope will soon be filled with brilliant arguments and turns of phrase. However, you don’t need to start with complete sentences and paragraphs. Arranging scattered words and phrases into an outline and gradually filling it in can get you to your goal. In fact, this approach may help you keep the big picture in mind as you write, allowing you to stay focused on your main ideas and overarching argument even as you delve into the weeds.

Here are some steps and strategies for assembling an outline and massaging it into a first draft:

• What are the key points that you must get across? For a thesis, you might start with the headings in a chapter outline; for a research paper introduction, you may write down broad topics constituting the background of your work, gradually zeroing in on your research question. For a personal statement, a key point might be a life experience that sets you apart as a scholar, or for a research proposal, an aim that you mean to accomplish in the lab. Jot down the key stories and their significance as bullet points. Right now, completeness and order don’t matter as long as you’ll be able to understand what you wrote at a later point.
• Organize subtopics as indented bullet points under your main ideas. Later on, these ideas might become body sentences in a paragraph or become their own paragraphs.
• Think about order and transitions. Shift your bullet points into an order that lets your points build and compound upon one another. It’s easier to see issues in the progression of ideas at this stage, when they are in their shorter, undeveloped form, than later on, when they have expanded into full paragraphs. Next, consider how each bullet point connects to the previous one and play with transitions. If it supports the previous point, add phrases such as, “In addition to” or “Not only . . . but also.” If the ideas are contradictory, add “Despite” or “However.”
• Set up citations and use key references as scaffolding.   Integrating citation software into your word processor is a beneficial administrative task that is best to complete during the outline stage. Despite the initial time investment and technical hiccups you may have to work through, this step will save you many hours in the future. Do this task toward the end of an early writing session, or on a day when you’re perhaps stuck or waiting for feedback. Whether you use Mendeley, EndNote, PaperPile, Zotero, or another citation manager, having the scaffolding of key literature in place can help you stay organized and save you from scrambling for sources during a later stage. Important references can also serve as landmarks as you go.
• Ask for feedback early. If writing collaboratively, get your coauthors’ or advisor’s feedback on your outline so that you can agree on the big picture. What order should the ideas follow? Do they have ideas to add or subtract to the piece? This practice doesn’t guarantee that you won’t need to make large, structural edits later, but it will kick off this piece in an organized, logical manner.

There are many ways to begin a first draft. Gradually fleshing out a rough outline was what worked best for me when writing research reports and my dissertation. It isn’t pretty—few first draft strategies are—but it helped me bypass the initial feeling of being overwhelmed as well as overcome instances of writer’s block. Try it, and whether you love it or hate it, you’ve come closer to figuring out a writing practice that works for you.

Ready to book an appointment with FWC staff? Access the  FWC intake form .

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