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Originally Posted by Kadath
I don't think your math tracks. If we upped salary by 10K, people would join on their own at a rate of 23,700. If we drafted people, they'd start at 13,700. We still need the same number of new people whether we get them at 23,7 or 13,7, right? So increasing the pay rate would make things more expensive.
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There's a lot more to a draft than just paying the conscripts. You'd have to factor in things like financing the draft boards, financing the physicals for all potential draftees, et cetera. Additionally, draftees serve for a very finite time and then wave "Bye-bye" to "tha G". Pay volunteers more money, you get more volunteers, better motivation to perform, better retention (which means less "meaningless" training like close order drill is required) , et cetera, ALL of which lowers costs of an all volunteer force over draftees. It would also increase morale, and have a far lower POLITICAL cost associated with it.