The biggest weakness of this proposal is figuring out who would supervise all these draftees. I’m an NCO, and supervising is my bread and butter. Any given NCO can typically supervise 3 to 5 elements. So a 5 men make a team, up to 3 teams make a squad, 3 squads + weapons squad make a platoon, there are 3 platoons + HQ in a company, and there are maybe three companies plus HHC in a battalion. You wind up with about 20% of the enlisted men being NCOs.
The whole point of all these draftees and the work corps and the punishment corps is that none of these guys are suitable leaders. So however big those groups are, figure on finding 20% of that, but they have to be leaders capable of maintaining good order and discipline and training these guys in their jobs.
It’s tough to be an NCO. The only way I can make it through the day is because my soldiers and I share a sense of purpose. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I was stuck in charge of a bunch of dirtbags, never accomplishing anything but digging holes and filling them in again, constantly listening to them count down the days, constantly dealing with malingering and lying. I’ve been stuck supervising our extra-duty guys and it just sucks the life out of you.
I can’t imagine where you would find people who would do that job willingly, and if you drew from the military how it wouldn’t destroy morale and readiness.
