The MSM story of the week with regard to the war on terror has been the “involuntary call-ups” of Marines. The point here is not that this isn’t a big deal, it most certainly is, especially to the 2500 heading back to the battlefield. Marines, soldiers and their familes are bearing an incredibly heavy burden to keep not just this country safe, but all of Western civilization itself.
The issue is the media spin. Here is the AP take, which is important because the AP is distributed to thousands of newspapers across the country.
Marines to issue involuntary call-ups
Corps faces shortage of volunteers for deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Marine Corps said Tuesday it has been authorized to recall thousands of Marines to active duty, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On cue, ABC News is asking the question, Is the Next Step a Draft?
If the return of the draft meme sounds familiar, that’s because it was used as a scare tactic in the final weeks of the 2004 election. John Kerry, speaking to the Des Moines Register,
“With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great potential of a draft.”
So what is the truth today on this call up of Marines? Anytime I have a question about a MSM story involving the military, I turn to the milbloggers. John Noonan of the excellent milblog Op-For says,
In a time where recruiting goals are consistently being met and exceeded, the mainstream media is trying to convince you that we’re on the doorstep -the back doorstep- of a Vietnam style draft. I am dying to understand this “involuntary” call-up phrase reporters keep using. Is this their way of rephrasing the word “orders?” There is no such thing as an “involuntary” call up. Military members already volunteered at the onset of their 4 year active duty + 4 year inactive ready reserve committment. Calling up reserves is not even in the same ballpark as widespread conscription, but that’s the spin papers like the Times is throwing at their readership.
An involuntary call up has existed in the past, it’s called the draft. The draft where you conscript citizens into military service without them having volunteered, hence the term involuntary.
Nor is there such thing as a backdoor draft. Reservists are recalled during wartime, plain and simple.
Our friend Matt from Blackfive is asking the right question, Media Still Doesn’t Understand Recruiting…or Do They?
A few claim it’s a “Back-door draft”, “Recruiting Shortfall”, etc. Yes, there is a problem with the size of our military. It’s not big enough to handle the war AND keep some semblance of a work-life balance (three tours is not a small strain on family or morale – it’s a HUGE strain). Maybe if the force size was increased, there would be a recruiting shortfall. But there isn’t one now.
Matt concludes his post by exposing a revolting piece of journalism by the Chicago Sun-Times, which is nothing short of a smear job against the United States Marine Corps.
You have to see it to believe it.
Thank God for milblogs is all I can say.