Toward a Consensus on Military Service: Report of the Atlantic Council's Working Group on Military Service compiles the work of several authors who are all members of Working Group on Military service. Each chapter tackles relevant issues regarding the U.S. peacetime military volunteer force, such as its previous experiences and future prospects.
The opening chapter covers the setting, which in turn provides a geopolitical overview of the issues faced by the U.S. military. The next chapter discusses the history of American military recruitment system, from colonial times up to the last draft era. Chapter 3 tackles the present and future of the U.S. security requirements, while the next chapter discusses the concept of an all-volunteer force as well as its implications. The fifth chapter provides an analysis of the experience and prospects of military reserves in the all-volunteer era. Chapter 6 discusses the possible repercussions of an all-volunteer forces as well as the possible remedy of such predicament. Chapter 7 explains several recruitment options for both active and reserve forces, while the Chapter 8 discusses the use of a compulsory military service when an all-volunteer system is proven inadequate. The ninth chapter examines the relationship between how the U.S. military builds up its military manpower and how it affects U.S. society both morally and ethically. The last chapter provides recommendation based on the information inferred from the previous chapter.