Donald Goldstein thinks the U.S. Army is at its breaking point.

Goldstein, a professor in… Donald Goldstein thinks the U.S. Army is at its breaking point.

Goldstein, a professor in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, concedes that his assertion isn’t a new or revolutionary thought.

Nonetheless, he thought it was time that someone spoke up about these problems and offered possible solutions. One solution: a draft.

Goldstein said the major problem is that the Army is overextended. After the Cold War, he explained, the country cut 18 divisions, which had about 15,000 troops each, to 10 divisions without quitting any of its commitments around the world.

Over time, the Army has continued to make more commitments to countries, including Iraq, Bosnia and the War on Terror.

Fewer people are volunteering to join the Army, too, so with a lack of bodies, the troops are constantly being recycled, said Goldstein, a World War II expert who spent 22 years in the Air Force.

Forces like the National Guard and the Reserves that used to only be called upon in times of crisis are being called upon constantly, said Goldstein. His conclusions come from 2007 recruitment statistics from the Department of Defense to draw his conclusions.

Because of the constant recycling, he said, troop morale is down and many people are not choosing to serve again after their commitments are over.

This has forced the Army to offer higher monetary incentives to get people to stay, said Goldstein, who referenced an analysis of the statistics by Boston-based research organization National Priorities Project.

Goldstein said the problems of the Army could be solved by a change in foreign policy or the installation of a draft.

He said a draft selection would offer a more diverse group of people than would a volunteer force. The Army’s number of recruits with at least a high school diploma was just 70.7 percent in 2007. But the goal is to have 90 percent of recruits meet this benchmark.

According to Defense Department statistics, 80 percent of new recruits with diplomas complete their first term serving, while half of those without quit.

Having more educated people alongside people from West Point Academy and other military schools could strengthen the Army, said Goldstein. And a draft could bring about this diverse group of people who would probably finish their terms.

But Lt. Col. John Bender, a professor of military science for Pitt’s Army ROTC, said there is no need for a draft.

“When you ask individual soldiers if they are doing too much, oftentimes they say they are,” said Bender. “But we have the best soldiers who have performed again and again and will do what the nation needs them to do.”

The official position of the Army is that since there is no draft now, there shouldn’t be one instituted in the future, said Bender. He added he cannot see any cause for expanding the professional Army that is currently in place.

Bender, who has been at Pitt for four years, said his 140 recruits, all of whom must be in college to be in the ROTC, have been imbibed with a propensity to serve the country with an understanding that it’s real.

And the money for college that comes with it isn’t their only motive, he said. Bender’s colleague, Maj. Daniel Morris, an assistant professor at the ROTC, said he has only seen the number of qualified recruits grow.

Twice as many qualified incoming freshmen applied for scholarships for next fall than at the beginning of this year, he said.

The prospect of going to Iraq has dissuaded some people form joining the Army, said Goldstein.

Morris admitted that while the war can make some people decide against joining, he doesn’t think it has really affected recruiting.

“Some decide to join just to go to Iraq and serve the country,” said Morris. “In fact, [the war] has probably brought in more people who really want to be here.”

Goldstein said he doesn’t have the answers to the problem of overextension and has no idea who could solve it.

“I’m just surprised no one is talking about it,” he said.

“We need to look at our commitments, our role in the world and our overextension of troops, and we need to change our policy.”