In effect, a draft is in place now

Yes, there really is a draft, as pointed out to me by a sailor based in Norfolk, Va. For those in the military, it is very real, but it doesn't even get minor attention from the rest of us. It's called the IA program, short for "individual augmentee." If you are currently serving in the Air Force or the Navy, you may get "IA'ed" to Iraq or Afghanistan, a process also known as the "blue-to-green" draft.

We are in year five of wars being fought by our voluntary military, and as military scholars point out, the voluntary military was not designed for these long-term wars; hence, the need for multiple deployments, stop-losses, and a back-door draft.

We have a president who never misses an opportunity to use troops as a backdrop for his war speeches, but I don't recall him ever asking for more volunteers for the military. Countless times he has stated that we are a nation at war. No, we aren't, but our military and their families are. Just because a person joins the voluntary military, we have no right to subject that person to multiple deployments and a back-door draft. They deserve better.

Kathy Rogers

Palatine