Don't even talk about Iran. The United States Army is already way overextended in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its recruitment record is the worst in a generation.

Standards have already been lowered. In 2003, the year the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, 4.6 percent of recruits — most of whom had committed either multiple misdemeanors or a felony — had to be given a "moral waiver" before being admitted into the Army. By 2006, 11 percent of new Army recruits had a criminal record and needed that same moral waiver. In 2007, that figure had jumped to 13 percent.

Add to this bad news the bleak academic record: The Army's stated goal remains that 90 percent of its recruits be high-school graduates because that achievement has proven to be a strong indicator of future success in the military. The percentage of recruits with a high-school diploma dropped in 2007 to its lowest level in 25 years. In 2005, nearly 84 percent of Army recruits were high-school graduates, but by 2007 that figure had fallen to just over 70 percent. Pentagon studies have found that nearly half of the Army recruits who had dropped out of high school before graduating went on to drop out of the military before completion of their enlistment tour.

The Army is now offering high-school graduates who enlist a signing bonus of $40,000, which they can use after they complete their service obligation.

Even with its lower admission standards, the stretched-thin Army apparently has relaxed its own standards. In recent years, one out of three enlistees had been failing to complete their initial enlistment tour, compared to one out of 10 draftees between 1940 and 1973. In 2006, 94 percent of Army recruits successfully completed basic training, compared to just 82 percent one year earlier.

America's pre-eminent military sociologist, Professor Charles Moskos, reports that the Army's new unofficial recruiting slogan, as told to him by a military recruiter, is "Don't Ask, Don't Spell."

Moskos, himself an Army draftee during the Cold War, lists just a few of the consequences of the recruiting crisis: The increasing dependence on civilian contractors, of whom there are approximately 20,000 in Iraq (the second largest force there after the U.S.

military), "performing combat-related functions." These private entities operate outside of any military chain of command, and their real cost is almost impossible to determine.

Moskos — who sees even greater pressure being imposed upon the Army Reserves as well as increased reliance upon recruiting non-American citizens into the Army to make up the shortfall — has a solution: He urges an 18-month draft of American males in the active military followed by 18 months in the regular reserve or National Guard.

Here is his special wrinkle: Recalling 1958, when 70 percent of American men age 26 were either then serving or had already served in the U.S. military, Moskos argues that "any conscription system must start at the top of the social ladder in order to win widespread public acceptance."

In World War II, he reminds us, "America's privileged youths were recruited at a significantly higher rate than were their counterparts in lower socio-economic groups." What we have during this war with the proliferation of "Support the Troops" bumper-stickers, he says, is " patriotism lite."

To those ready to object on grounds that a draft would constitute "involuntary servitude" or that volunteers are more highly motivated to serve, let it be pointed out that during the Cold War two times as many volunteers as draftees failed to complete their initial enlistment. And in Vietnam, according to the U.S. Army Research Institute, draftees had lower desertion and AWOL rates than did volunteers.

We have three remaining presidential candidates, each of whom has publicly pledged to enlarge significantly the U.S. military. But none of the three has had the courage or the candor to confront reality and admit the all-volunteer system is unable to recruit a representative, educated and psychologically well-adjusted U.S. Army. John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton owe it to the nation to listen to an authentic and wise patriot, professor and ex-GI, Charlie Moskos.

To find out more about Mark Shields and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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COPYRIGHT 2008 MARK SHIELDS