FEATURE - CONSCRIPTION

Building an exclusively volunteer army has never been an easy task, which is why forced enrollment, or conscription, became essential in developing America's military might.

On May 8, 1792, Congress passed the first National Conscription Act. It established a peacetime uniform militia, mandatory for every white male between the ages of 18 and 45.

During the Civil War in 1862, the Confederacy enacted America's first wartime military draft. Union States followed suit.

Controversy soon arose, because these laws allowed a wealthy recruit to buy his way out of service. In New York, this ignited a five-day race and class riot.

General conscription was re-introduced again during World War I, but it was World War II that generated a staggering ten million draftees.

By the time we entered Vietnam, loopholes had become a major source of social friction. The war itself was also unpopular, and citizens took to the streets, protesting and burning draft cards.

When the U.S. finally pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, the peacetime draft was discarded in favor of an all-volunteer armed forces.

Today, this all-volunteer military has 2.4 million members and is considered one of the best trained in the world.