I am sure there will be other retorts to Capt. Brian W. Brennan's thesis (Limited vs. Total War, Sept-Oct 2002). I'm inclined to the view that the two World Wars are atypical but the massive carnage has profoundly influenced global psyche so that we see wars pursued for a limited objectives and with limited means as failures. And this ain't necessarily so! However, I would like to limit myself to a few comments about conscription.

Firstly, those European countries that maintained conscription do so as much for social as military necessity and most European countries are phasing out conscription. The United States' all-volunteer military should be seen as a remarkable achievement. It has provided a large, well-motivated, adaptable and high quality armed forces. The Red Army of the Cold War era may have had an advantage in Central Europe, but it was not overwhelming and could not match the US ability to deploy large expeditionary forces, such as to South West Asia in 1990.

Moreover, there is little historical support that volunteers perform any differently than conscripts. All soldiers do better when they believe in what they are doing. There are certainly social costs to conscription when societies are not unified as typified by the New York draft riots during the US Civil War and the anti-conscription campaign in Australia during the Great War.

An equally crucial issue is the availability of technicians, medical personal and other specialists. Having a healthy, well-educated and cohesive society from which to draw such personal is vital. This is something which the US has a comparative advantage. As a simple comparison, the US trains more aircrew per capita than any other country - at least 2 ½ times in the case of Australia. The US preponderance is the same in most other specialist military skills.

I've little doubt that US military will continue to lead the way in how to furnish a steadfast and capable military in the future. This is a lot to do with your ability to reflect and change to new circumstances, if writings in Armor are anything to go by.

Armor, US Armor Association, Jan-Feb 2003, Vol. CXII No. 1