I Want You!; The evolution of the All-Volunteer Force

Format is approximately 7.25 by 10.25 inches. xxxi, [1], 800 pages. Footnotes. Figures. Tables. References. Index. DVD inside the back cover. Bernard Daniel Rostker (born February 1, 1944) has served in the public and private sectors. In 1970 he joined RAND as a research economist, becoming Program Director of the Manpower Personnel and Training Program, a program sponsored by the U. S. Air Force. He was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) from 1977 to 1979 and was Director of the United States Selective Service System from 1979 to 1981. He returned to RAND in 1984 to help establish the Arroyo Center, the Army's federally funded research and development center for studies and analysis. He was Program Director of the Force Development and Employment Program and Associate Director of the Center. In January 1990, he shifted to RAND's National Defense Research Institute as Director of the Defense Manpower Research Center. He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) from 1994 to 1998; Under Secretary of the Army from 1998 to 2000; and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 2000-2001. From 1996 to 2001, he also served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illnesses. Upon leaving government service, Rostker returned to RAND and his research there has focused on managing the recruitment, retention, and performance of police officers in large city departments; managing the volunteer military; and reforming the military by lengthening military careers. Should the U.S. reinstate the draft? With this inside look at the Pentagon and the White House, the author reviews the American military's transformation over the past thirty years into the world's finest fighting force, and describes why the volunteer force is still the best strategy for our national security. A vast archive of government documents on DVD allows readers to view exchanges between government officials at the highest level-including formally classified memorandum between Presidents and Secretaries of Defense-revealing for the first time the inner story of the All-Volunteer Force. As U.S. military forces appear overcommitted and some ponder a possible return to the draft, the timing is ideal for a review of how the American military transformed itself over the past five decades, from a poorly disciplined force of conscripts and draft-motivated "volunteers" to a force of professionals revered throughout the world. Starting in the early 1960s, this account runs through the current war in Iraq, with alternating chapters on the history of the all-volunteer force and the analytic background that supported decisionmaking. The author participated as an analyst and government policy maker in many of the events covered in this book. His insider status and access offer a behind-the-scenes look at decisionmaking within the Pentagon and White House. The book includes a foreword by former Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird. The accompanying DVD contains more than 1,700 primary-source documents ? government memoranda, Presidential memos and letters, staff papers, and reports ? linked directly from citations in the electronic version of the book. This unique technology presents a treasure trove of materials for specialists, researchers, and students of military history, public administration, and government affairs to draw upon.…