"Maxwell Thurman, who was the head of army recruiting, … had people do some research on why people enlisted," he said. Keefer said the service's "Be All That You Can Be" campaign resonated not only with potential recruits, but their mothers. Army, especially, learned how to recruit service members without the threat of a draft. The four services seemed like a good career opportunity." "And then remember that in the early years of the all-volunteer force, there was a recession, high inflation. "While patriotism and the desire to serve were always motivations, I would have to say that a primary motivation was much better pay," he said. He discussed the motivation of young people to enlist in the all-volunteer force. Keefer is literally the man who wrote the chapters on the all-volunteer force – publishing the official DOD histories for the 1970s and 1980s. "In the early years, the main support for the all-volunteer force came from the Secretary of Defense and the larger Office of the Secretary of Defense."Įdward C. "There continued to be opposition within the military leadership," Mahan said. They spoke of the expense of the force and the inability of the services to recruit the numbers they needed. In fact, there were many indications that it might fail."Īnd there were many who probably wanted the all-volunteer force to fail. "If you look at the 1970s as a whole for the all-volunteer force, there was no indication that it was going to be a success. "It's a fair assessment to say that the early years of the all-volunteer force were rocky at best," said Erin Mahan, the chief historian at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Even many in favor of an all-volunteer force believed that in the event of a conflict, political leaders would immediately reinstitute a draft. Many American civilian and military officials believed it would be impossible to man the force adequately without the draft. There were troops based in Japan, Ethiopia, Thailand, Tunisia, Bahrain and thousands of service members afloat. In Panama, there were 6,800 service members. There were another 8,200 based in Taiwan. military had a strength of almost than 3.3 million service members. troops had left South Vietnam the year before, the Soviet Union still loomed large. Many military and civilian leaders in the Defense Department had doubts about the move.Įven though U.S.
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