According to Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon personnel official now affiliated with the Center for Defense Information and the Center for American Progress:
The current use of ground forces in Iraq represents a complete misuse of the all-volunteer military…
If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft.
– Experts: Force increases may not be enough – Military News, Marine Corps News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports – Marine Corps Times
And…
Korb had two suggestions beyond the draft, both controversial. One would be to drop the military’s prohibition on openly homosexual people serving in the military.
“Over the past 10 years, more than 10,000 personnel have been discharged as a result of this policy, including 800 with skills deemed mission critical, such as pilots, combat engineers and linguists,” he said.
Second, Korb would drop gender restrictions on some direct-combat occupations.
“The idea that women who possess the requisite mental and physical skills should somehow be protected from the dangers of combat fails to acknowledge the reality of the modern battlefield and the role women are already playing in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Korb said.