If you're under the age of 35 and of sound mind and body, get worried.

If the Inactives are coming up -- and there's some disclarity about if it's a general recall or specific to certain rates/codes (how the military classifies various specialties) -- then a general draft is close behind.

Now, I honestly don't have much of a problem with a draft, if done fairly. I'd like to see an option of non-military service like a WPA or Job Corps, but I don't really want the loophole. There's no reason even conscientious objectors couldn't serve and be assigned to non-combat/non-combat support units. My time in the Navy did me a world of good and exposed me to many things. (Insert your own joke here.)

It's a clear Liberal meme that a general draft will follow shortly after the 2004 election, if won by Bush. I'm not so sure - the public outcry would be huge, I think. The hippies may have become soft suburban boomers, but if you 'go after' their children, I think they'll remember how to march quickly.

Also, where do you put them? The military is ill-equipped to deal with a rapid influx after years of closing down Basic Training Centers and other base closures. More manpower would have to be shifted to training, even if much of it is shifted to infantry and armor.

Finally, what do you DO with them? If the Faster Iraq movement gets traction, then the administration is perfectly willing to make a Nixonian exit from Iraq. Does that put South Korea in the crosshairs? Back to Afghanistan/Pakistan for an all-out quest for bin Laden? Who in the Pentagon is planning the next move?