1. I doubt there would be much savings. Whatever they don't pay the soldiers would be pissed away on the military industrial complex in some other way. Cutting the military budget produces the most conspicuous whining and our politicians can't stand up to it.
2. While I see the benefit of an all-volunteer force it leads to two significant problems which cannot be fixed. First, the burden of military service falls on a disproportionately small percentage of the population. The rest of the population looks at them and says "you volunteered...don't complain." This leads to point #2. Conscription has the tendency of democratizing the armed forces. I wonder if we would still be pissing away our time and money in Afghanistan if the soldiers were draftees. Somehow, I think the political repercussions would have been too much.
Remember that the Romans went from a citizen army to a volunteer professional force. It didn't work out so well. In 30 years Sulla marched on Rome and "his" troops gleefully followed him.
2. While I see the benefit of an all-volunteer force it leads to two significant problems which cannot be fixed. First, the burden of military service falls on a disproportionately small percentage of the population. The rest of the population looks at them and says "you volunteered...don't complain." This leads to point #2. Conscription has the tendency of democratizing the armed forces. I wonder if we would still be pissing away our time and money in Afghanistan if the soldiers were draftees. Somehow, I think the political repercussions would have been too much.
Remember that the Romans went from a citizen army to a volunteer professional force. It didn't work out so well. In 30 years Sulla marched on Rome and "his" troops gleefully followed him.
