A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
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Beth Bailey
When the United States moved to an all-volunteer force (AVF) in 1973, the military was forced to compete in the national labor market without the cushion of conscription or draft-motivated volunteers. The Army, which needed to attract more than 20,000 recruits each month, turned to market research and advertising, began internal reform, and offered new benefits, portraying military service as opportunity rather than obligation. The turn to the labor market had political implications. As women and African Americans joined the military in unprecedented numbers, the Army served as a site of social experimentation, directly confronting the social change movements of the 1960s or 1970s and their legacies. Because an AVF requires high reenlistment rates and family-oriented benefits help retain soldiers, army dependents have come to far exceed army members, with implications for deployment, morale, and cost. And defining military service as labor market opportunity rather than citizen’s obligation is a critical shift in political definitions of citizenship.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Military in American Politics
- Article
- Civilian Control and the Constitution
- Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
- The Changing of the Guard: The National Guard's Role in American Politics
- Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
- A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
- The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
- The Politics of Military Bases
- Presidents and Military Command
- Joining Forces: Bridging the Civil-Military Divide
- Review
- Review of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
- Review of Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System
- Review of Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Military in American Politics
- Article
- Civilian Control and the Constitution
- Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
- The Changing of the Guard: The National Guard's Role in American Politics
- Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
- A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
- The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
- The Politics of Military Bases
- Presidents and Military Command
- Joining Forces: Bridging the Civil-Military Divide
- Review
- Review of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
- Review of Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System
- Review of Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate
