Joe Klein has a long piece in Time Magazine this week. The Courage Primary outlines the five issues Klein feels the candidates must address to get his attention and respect. On the fifth page of the online article, Klein explains why he feels we need a new military draft (with a nonmilitary service option). Klein says:

Not every 18-year-old would be pressed into two years of military service. Other options would be available: service as homeland- and border-security guards or airport check-in inspectors. In each of these cases, two years' service as a draftee would be the first step in a career ladder if you wanted to become, say, a professional border guard.

The Democratic Governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski, and the Olympic Institute for Leadership Development have separately called for a mandatory program requiring two years of national service. The governor, in an interview run on 10 May 2007 in the Oregonian called for a change in how the military recruits its membership.

For example, he comes about as close [as] you can to advocating a return to the draft. The all-volunteer military is becoming obsolete, he suggests, and says a mandatory two years of national service is the answer.

"If the military is an optional part of national service, that's fine." [Kulongoski said.]

In a Memorial Day op-ed piece, former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird has called for a system of universal civil service. In "Turning Apathy Into Good Deeds" Laird notes the following:

As I listen to calls for reinstating the draft to meet our military's needs, I fear that we're not looking at the bigger picture. Young Americans do need to serve their country. But they are not all needed in the military, nor do all belong there. What our nation needs is a system of compulsory universal civil service for young people.

Using his experience with the military draft, he discounts it as a source for soldiers. He notes: