4 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
news' of any sort, attempted to minimize the domestic demands
Vietnam policy.
of the
Thus the public, increasingly attached to its burgeoning
comfort, was poorly prepared and often not very willing to make the necessary
sacrifices for even a 'limited' war effort. Personnel policies
reflected this situation, and the poorer, poorly educated combat soldier
whom these policies tended to generate bore the brunt of the fighting.
The Selective Service mechanism worked exceptionally well and was
remarkably fair during World War II--an all-out war. The draft, also
functioned reasonably well and fairly during the Korean War, with help from
the call-up of the Reserves.
In contrast, the Selective Service System
demonstrated serious and inequitable flaws in its application to the
Vietnam War. For example, failure to mobilize the National Guard and
Reserves made the Reserves a haven for legal draft avoidance. The Reserve
component's authorized strength swelled during the Vietnam War, but since
abolition of the draft and reliance on the All-Volunteer Service, the
Reserve component has been depleted seriously (a subject beyond the purview
of this effort but deserving further serious study), resulting, in 1979, in
approximately a 50 percent shortfall in the minimal recruitment requirement.
The unsatisfactory results of the protracted war in Vietnam and
pressure from vocal subgroups of the population caused American legislators
to abolish the draft and substitute the All-Volunteer Force, which, despite
disclaimers, seems not to be working well.
(It should be noted that in August 1979 none of the US military services
met its accession quotas and charges were levied that the Army had
deliberately reduced its accession goals from the number it required to
what it expected to recruit--about one half of the number others said was
needed.)
standards.
Concomitantly, one or more of the services lowered its enlistment
Project 100,000 and other social programs placed an inordinate burden
on the military services, particularly the Army and Marine Corps which had
to field combat soldiers. The burden was felt in the basic and advanced
training centers, to be sure, but its greatest impact was in the area of
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