Military

DATE=7-18-2003

TYPE=Special English Feature

NUMBER=7-28853

TITLE=SPECIAL ENGLISH AMERICAN MOSAIC #931 - Volunteer Mililtary Force

BYLINE=Paul Thompson

TELEPHONE=619-2585

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Arditti

CONTENT=

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Dung Trung Nguyen writes: "Would you mind telling me if American citizens have been called up for military service these days? If I am not wrong, after the Vietnam War, universal military service in the States was abolished."

What ended after the Vietnam War was not universal military service but the draft. Since nineteen-seventy-three, the United States military has been all-volunteer. Each person has chosen to join.

Universal military service is a system that requires all able-bodied men, and sometimes women, to serve for a time. The United States has never done this. What the country has done during times of war or when it needed more troops is to hold drafts. A draft is a system of choosing people for required military service.

During the war in Iraq, there was no draft but some people were called to active service. These were members of the military reserve.

There are different ways to serve in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard or National Guard. The two most common ways are service in the regular forces or the reserves.

Service in the regular forces means the military is a full-time job for as long as a person has agreed to serve. People who choose the reserves return to their civilian life after they finish their basic training. They continue training and meet with a reserve force near their home. Reservists may be called to active duty when the regular forces need them.

Reserve soldiers took part in the fight for Baghdad. They also had other duties such as medical aid. These included medical professionals called to active duty by the Navy to serve on a hospital ship.

The United States government still has the right to call on the public to fill the needs of the military in times of emergency. For this reason, when American men reach eighteen, they must list their name and address with the government in case there is ever another draft.