Of us have agreed did occur following the vietnam war. I will be moderating this. Sitting next to me is richard hunt. He has written the biography. And next to him, is the worlds expert on the creation of the all volunteer force. They have written a really wonderful book called the military workers day. I wrote a book called Americas Army for the volunteer force. I am is qualified to be asking questions. I found myself in an opposition. The premise of this panel is contested. I think everyone of us sitting up there would agree there is no one faction that explains why the United States to all volunteer force. At the same time, it is part of a panel that has been moved to adf. We answer the question simply by sitting here. I advised you that this is both misleading. I am not sure what the rest of the panels thing. Im going to ask them. I want to ask you to them to respond to this question. Will be more individual. That was started on at the end. With jennifer first. I apologize. I was supposed to use the mic . First of all thank you beth for putting this panel together. Im so excited to be had. Especially with my copanelist. Including you. I agree with you. When i saw the question. Because the role. They also thought that was kind of a problematic question. I think while there is no one clause, i think pretty definitively we can say the answer is no. Just based on the timing of the evidence. We can time that with the onset of the clear policy consensus. Towards the end of 1968. They will be ending the drive. There is not yet evidence. Or any discipline problem in vietnam. It is certainly not a factor. I think it has come to the extent that way. The story it has been written. I do see it. The morale issues we have been discussing today. What are you showing up in the army as a whole. The armys leadership. Was concerned about there. Trying to figure out one of the best ways to deal with it. Identified five reasons. It has been a volunteer army. In 11 and world war ii. The brief period after world war ii. Historically, they cannot draft everybody. The issue became. There were so many deployments. And exemptions added. To the law. There were more reasons not to serve. So the person will not have to serve. People began to realize what the inequity was there. There was a body of staff. That legitimized not swerving. That was mainly led. By the economist. Several folks. Outside government. Prescription for services. The war was obviously increasingly unpopular. In that sense, that becomes one of the proximate causes. I will skip. The army itself of confidence in the draft. There were having increasing problems with the draft. The problem of serving in the fourth. They were looking for ways to manage manpower. I will stop there. Be getting my book. The issue of expanding the draft. With nixon i think was a political one. Former politician. He was looking ahead. The war was going to end. I want to be responsible for building. After the war. Within the american population. Different groups in the draft system. Libertarians do not like the draft. Because it was infringing on personal liberties. There were objective to military service. The years below market agent. That turned out to be a very persuasive group. We talk about the nonissues and that sort of thing. Boxes of supplies. The military alliances. One of the things we did. People into vietnam. Was to pull out troops and equipment. Those units were depleted. The political components. Definitely the war protest. Ending the draft. An important part of that. To ask you a question . As richard said, the political mood. Put off the antiwar. That he could capture it. Certainly accepted the argument. A friedman. Martin anderson. Who became one of his chief counsel is. Kept the issue of the summit. Reminded him right after he was elected. Pushed him into he announced he was going to do so. Just a comment. So they can come up with the plane. It was too hard to do that. Its only had a deadline. The commission had to be finished. Nixon was there. The political component was very strong. Ending the draft. Us to want to ask that question. For a more focused discussion. It is to have weeks before the president ial election in 1968. Those of you who are not remember. Is a period of division and chaos. Nixon goes on national radio. The vietnam. He is going to end the drive. Honestly he is not going to do what was to have noncombat troops in vietnam. This is a big step. What we have been talked about so far as been very much about the experience with in vietnam. To some extent it is almost isolated entity. Where it is not connected to the politics. Domestic or geopolitical. In vietnam. To what extent does it make sense for us to talk about what we have been talking about today. Manpower. In vietnam without thinking more about the domestic pressures . Give us a little bit more about what his motivations were. What he looked out of the country. How much is it look into vietnam. How much is elected to the domestic politics. Why after making this press promise that he had no signoff by that matters. I just like to hear little bit more about what you think the validation for. It was my copanelist. The motivations were very political. From recent perspectives. Is the opportunity. We think about how much that may have been asking. We were quite taken by surprised and appalled at the idea. As they were involved in a difficult work, they would also be test with coming up with the plane. Returning to some kind. It actually took on quite a bit. In multiple ways today, instead of having discussions about what is going on. Without appreciating the many different ways that domestic politics were impacted in in theater. That is one of those that felt great. That was something i learned. And about the armies. Just let fear the idea. They have made this announcement. Not was a bipartisan consensus. That the draft would have to end. Remote like there was no end in sight. It may also be one of those things we have not talked about it. I would be interested in my co panelist thoughts on this. One of the things we havent really talked about is the degree. Into the morale and discipline problems. We have been talking about it. Whether or not it is a sense you could win the world. Thinking about those impacts. A very interesting. Before he made his speech in october in 1968, they had already read the handwriting on the wall. It was a study in the chief of staff on how we could end the drive. If it was going to happen anyway. They do not want to be on the wrong side of the decision. The army was kicking and screaming. That is just not the case. The staff action officer. The staff reported in december 1968. That it was feasible. They ordered a larger study. , operation provide. To look at the whole thing. Following the dates report. In the initial report. In march 1969. The dod got in the acting. They had its own study. Was to report was rendered, the military was more or less ready. Was the orders forgiven. To start this process. That i think is very different from what most people understand. A couple of things. To fill up with that. In 1965, the dod did a study of the drive. The med the recommendations we were thinking about. That was then put on the shelf. Because of the buildup in vietnam. In 1968 in october, referred to the discipline problems. They were the assistant secretary of defense. They initiated a study on its own on how to reduce or eliminate inscription. They did a study to. They were very proactive. The election of mixon. For him the writing was on the wall. He wanted to prepare the army for its future. They want the army to be pushed. To approach the problem of ending the draft. One thing we all learn by going to these records is that there is an awful lot of preparation that sometimes we never have to use it. Nonetheless a lot about contingency. My question here, there are many different circumstances in which one can learn. This is been the most challenging moment to do so. Given the failure in vietnam. The dramatically decreasing respect. Given the lack of interest in many young people. What do they do in these latter years as they read the direct command that they had to do this. Try to prepare for the army. Recruiting 20 or 30,000 people per month. That is really quite striking when it parents to the fraction of that today. How do the ongoing war in vietnam checked the preparation for an all volunteer sores. In a couple ways. And gave them descriptions. 1971. Nixon and secretary said that is too soon. We were still fighting a war. We cannot stop recruiting people do we have a system in place. That is funded. That was a critical thing. To make sure they got the money from congress. To pay for the higher salaries. Is one of the ways that the plans make the all volunteer force succeed. You make military service more attractive. Eliminating a lot. More freedom than the barracks. Kind of a very different balancing act. The force in vietnam. Interesting policy. He was is going to far. The draft ended until there was an all volunteer system in place. They had a chance at succeeding. He was still responsible for making sure there is enough manpower. Effectively to this one was in. That is correct. The arm is planning up to that point. They did not start to shift to a zero draft posture until the war was over. They accelerated that timetable. There was to be no draft by 1966. 1973. Two years earlier. Then the army was planning for. That put them on a crashed process. In response to that it was to create a Program Manager if you will. High level. Highly respected general officer was going to manage the whole thing. Are some of the normal procedures. That was Lieutenant General george bursae. He was considered to be something of a novel. Highly respected. He was the one who developed the airmobile concept. The airmobile test division. Had refried. Was his first commander. Highly respected for the. Incredible latitude. He had the ability to work directly. Informing his plans. And the secretary of the army. This feature deputy. He is to play it against them. He did not get the answer he wanted from was. Who convinced him. That is why. Between the two of them, they created. Special assistance. That in turn created a testbed. The volunteer army. When they came up in the process. 172. 670 things. There were going to experiment with throughout the army. This included nocost activities such as ending mandatory. And allowing soldiers to petition their backs. You can imagine what that was. Ending redundant inspections. The annual general inspection. The hunter issue was a major staff issue. Women soldiers wear their hair. In the back. That went up and down the army staff. They accepted it because he realized it was a major irritation to troops. Lastly, five day weeks. Estimates county. The commanding officer. On the section. The army staff hated this. Weather be able to question activities by the commanding staff. He also had a major upheaval. Increase in funding for the recruiting command. In that they would the army, they were still going to have to recruit people. Recruited army as opposed to volunteer army. The last thing i would just mention. Is experimenting with paid advertising. I think ill just highlight limited issues related. I think one of the major challenges is the budgetary challenge. One of the things that is happening domestically and politically is that congress is still questioning the militarys budget. Beginning in the early 1970s. They are doing so i think because of the high ongoing cost of the war. Also the anticipated cost to the volunteer force. In the many ways, to make the switch to the volunteer force. Because of the budget cost of the vietnam war. How will we have the higher pay. I will be able to spend military benefits. If we want to recruit volunteer force. The budgetary questions. In the vietnam era. The other thing i want to talk about a little bit is when we think about the discussion we have been having so far today. Is about questions. Moral permissiveness in vietnam. The problems of Racial Discrimination in vietnam. The same issues are actually the issues that the project will provide. Their framing in early different way. Why is it okay to have the session . To have longterm. To drink beer in the barracks. To do all these things. It is okay. You are happening almost simultaneously. 69. 70 and 71. This is exactly the same year. When the army is experimenting with and trying to define how can they become more permissive. How can they become less discriminatory. I can offer other channels. , the oldstyle hierarchy and command. For me, it is a paranormal world. The same issues that are problems in vietnam are being treated like problems to intelligently stop on the home front in order to recruit and retain the necessary numbers that she wanted for the volunteer force. Maybe that is something we can have a discussion about as we go forward. I want to chime in on the here is you. Nine months. The soldier said their biggest concern was here. It is just hard to believe it. Following up on what jennifer said. Thinking about the ways. These are advertised benefits to join the army. The same thing is being complained about. I guess there was questions to follow up with. Visits and the crisis of morale in vietnam. It is planned on a whole variety of different things. We have had a lot of interesting discussions about that today. There is also a major crisis for the all volunteer sores. It seems like it may just be going away. The media is proclaiming the failure. Before the even started drafting people. The resistance there was no way this was going to work. They were going to get a decent volunteers. How do we make sense of the continuation of this crisis narrative of the first year the all volunteer force. If there is a crisis of morale in vietnam. Does it have anything to do it vietnam or is it a broader problem. Anybody who wants to join in. There was also a po problem. One of the initial reactions. To also. That is retirees. And senior officers. To experiment with. Giving away the store. We are being permissive. Very quickly, for the people to work on this. They repackage the whole thing. There not being permissive. There are installing professionalism. It is also being adversely affected by all of these morale. The army stopped treating the soldier as a juvenile and started dealing with responded to the norm, he would act like one. That is what they really began to push. Professionalizing. Slowing things down. They were able to get back. Also educating officers. To what the whole point was. Some of those other. Some of those other folks. Speaking to everybody. That major command. As to what this was all about. That is really what to call. Ultimately. It was not easy