Roman Lessons for the American All-Volunteer Force

The very thing the all volunteer military wished to curtail, draft resistance, might be its downfall. Without a draft, there is no countrywide unity against involvement in stupid wars that profit the minority economically. There is no political involvement from the majority because there is no risk to them.

Interesting read and definitely some parallels. However will say one main difference is technology. Think politicians and senior leaders now view replacing manpower with AI technology as an alternative to having a significant sized volunteer force. Roman Empire needed disciplined manpower for the sheer size of its Empire but as it became ill-disciplined, abusive, and corrupt it led to rebellions. We view military influence through projection of force. So we get the arguments of "why do we have troops in these countries if we aren't at war?" I'm good with the all volunteer force but we need to change our behavior as a global police force. Countries with conscription or mandatory service do it for domestic military strategy and not foreign policy.

Very interesting.