Page 69 - A Soldiers Exposition

SOCIETY AND THE ALL-VOLUNTEER MILITARY

With the advent of the all-volunteer military, our nation became disengaged from reality with regard to the
brave men and women who agreed to serve.

“1 July 1993 was the twentieth anniversary of the all-volunteer Army. In the early 1970s, many doubted
that the Army could survive a transition from a conscripted to an all-volunteer force. The passage was
painful at times, but that Army did succeed.

As the Army once again faces a period of drastic change, the following article is particularly relevant. It is
adapted from a paper by Mr. Thomas W. Evans, formerly with the Headquarters, U.S. Army Recruiting
Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky. Mr. S. Douglas Smith, a public affairs officer with that command,
submitted his paper to Army History.

The modem era of recruiting originated with Richard M. Nixon's 1968 political campaign promise to end
the draft. It was shaped in 1970 by the Gates Commission Report, which charted a course for maintaining
military strength without conscription.

Over the next three years, the Army's end strength dropped from 1.3 million to about 780,000-a level that
prevailed throughout the 1970s-1980s.

The Army raised entry-level military pay to attract the new level of recruits. In spring 1971 national media
advertising began with a television campaign. The recruiting forces were augmented as Project VOLAR, a
somewhat controversial experiment in improving the soldier's quality of life was initiated.

These specific actions were part of the Modern Volunteer Army (MVA) Program, designed to strengthen
professionalism, enhance Army life, and develop a modem accession system. These actions proceeded
on a timetable geared to Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird's decision that all-volunteer recruiting
should begin on 1 July 1973.

The last man was drafted in December 1972 and reported for training in June 1973. Over 180,000 young
men and women enlisted in each of fiscal years 1973, 1974, and 1975, exceeding the U.S. Army
Recruiting Command's non-prior service missions.

At first, the MVA Program seemed successful but recruiting difficulties in subsequent years changed that
perception sharply. The reasons for ending conscription and the controversies surrounding this action,
e.g., the quality, representativeness, and motivation of volunteer soldiers, continue to be relevant
because they involve ongoing public policy issues.

The difficulties faced by the United States Army Recruiting Command in the late 1970s and the steps
needed to overcome them serve as lessons for a future in which the Army must succeed in its mission,
despite conditions of undoubtedly greater austerity.”

Excerpted from Army History: The Professional Bulletin of Army History,
No. 27 (Summer 1993), pp. 40-46