Word: drafting
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...case for the present system rests on the fact that in 1948, when there was no conscription, manpower was about 600,000 short of actual needs; that the present draft not only adds men directly to the armed forces, but creates a pressure that persuades others to volunteer. Moreover, the concept of "universal service" has worked thus far in practice (nine out of ten men now twenty-six are serving their obligation) and is patriotic in theory...
...argue its critics, the draft has caused the college man to lose all sense of public duty, the Defense Department is losing a great reservoir of brains because it has too few places to put them, and the undergraduate who does not plan to go to graduate school or become a father becomes, to all intents and purposes, a draft dodger. In the face of an increase in manpower due to population growth, the Defense Department is deferring large groups of men for poor reasons and offering a militarily unrealistic six-month program in the bargain...
...manpower needs, proposed to create an all volunteer armed service by increasing incentives in those areas which do not attract many volunteers now. But even assuming the services could support themselves in this manner, it is unlikely that the concept of universal service would have been scrapped. The draft has proven an effective way of putting at least some bright young men in uniform, men who might not volunteer for duty...
Defenders of the draft and of Universal Military Training argue that college youth have an unrealistic conception of manpower needs. The college student thinks that the army, like society, is capable of placing him in a highly specialized role (run a computer, teach a course in electronics, etc.) and if it cannot, it should allow him to serve the country in civilian life...
...whether many or few are trained to serve, the House manpower subcommittee figures that only half of today's twenty-two year olds will ever have to serve. Further, as the crop of "war babies" matures, only one-third of a generation will be used militarily. You can draft some of the people for some of your needs, out not all of the people for all of your needs...