In July 1968, Fresno resident Jesse Fabela was drafted. Five months later he shipped out to Vietnam.

Fabela arrived in Long Bien as part of a replacement battalion, joining the United States Army̢۪s 199th Light Infantry Brigade.

“After two weeks of jungle training, they sent me off to my company out in the field,â€Â Fabela said from behind the desk at the Legion of Valor Museum in Fresno where he volunteers.

Thirty years later, Brian Turner, who teaches advanced poetry at Fresno State, enlisted in the United States Army. He served for seven years as a buck sergeant, deploying to Iraq in December 2003 as part of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Turner, the author of “Here, Bullet,â€Â a book of poems based on his experience in Iraq, said in an e-mail that he enlisted for many reasons, some private.

“I came from a military background (nearly joined the Marines twice when I was younger),â€Â Turner said in the e-mail. “I was newly married and wanted to set up my family; I knew the cut-off for age was looming and I might not be able to join later.â€Â

The two soldiers fought in two wars, almost four decades apart. Although the wars have been compared for their guerilla-style fighting and insurgencies, the one factor that differentiates the wars is the draft.

The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 established the draft and the Selective Service System, a federal agency to oversee the process. After World War II, the draft was used to fill vacancies in the military during peacetime and to provide troops in emergencies from 1948 until its end in 1973, according to the Selective Service Web site. During the Vietnam conflict, 1,857,304 men were drafted.

The United States military became an all-volunteer force in 1973. Army Lt. Col. Michael Busteed, an ROTC professor of military science at Fresno State, said the advantage of a voluntary force is the individuals have chosen to serve.

“If it’s a pure voluntary force, you get a higher quality force; you have individuals that are motivated to serve,â€Â Busteed said. “In a draft force, the potential is for people to be serving that do not want to be there so you would have problems with discipline within the force.â€Â

Even with the extended conflict in Iraq, Busteed said the military is currently meeting recruiting goals.

“There’s still plenty of Americans who take pride in the nation and are still stepping forward to serve their country,â€Â Busteed said. “You especially see that during a conflict, people that respond to the call and are still more than willing to serve.â€Â

According to an Oct. 10 news release on the Department of Defense Web site, all branches of the military met or exceeded their active duty recruiting goals for the October 2006 through September 2007 fiscal year. The Army, which had 80,407 recruits, achieved 101 percent of its active-duty recruiting goal.

The growing Army ROTC program at Fresno State, with about 120 members, including a detachment at Fresno City College, is one example of how Americans in the Valley are responding to the call, Busteed said.

Busteed said the Army ROTC provides students the same opportunity as someone who attends West Point. Students receive a commission as a second lieutenant, a degree and an opportunity for leadership training.

“Whatever they’re going to do, even if they do not continue to serve in the military, they’re going to see that’s going to transition quite well to the civilian side,â€Â Busteed said. “Corporate America is going to select people who take the initiative, people who have been put into positions of responsibility, are proven leaders and have and live by the set of values that the Army has.â€Â

Dennis Driggers, a lecturer in the department of political science, agrees with Busteed that a volunteer force eliminates dissent in the forces. Driggers, who was part of the new volunteer military force after Vietnam, said some draftees didn̢۪t mind the experience, developing camaraderie, while others were quick to exit once their deployment ended.

“With a volunteer force, you can’t complain anymore,â€Â Driggers said. “You signed up. You read the contract You went voluntarily.â€Â

Both Driggers and Busteed agree that the United States can continue the war in Iraq without a draft.

“Our national policy is one whereby we can use a few professional military members to fight the war without causing pain to the general population,â€Â Driggers said.

Fabela, the 59-year-old Vietnam veteran, disagrees, believing the war would end in six months if there was a draft.

“It’s easy for a politician to send somebody else’s son or daughter to war, but to send their own is a whole different ballgame,â€Â Fabela said.

Although Fabela would like to see every young man serve in the military and every young woman if she wants to, he doesn̢۪t see that happening soon.

“You’ve seen that T-shirt that says freedom is not free,â€Â Fabela said. “Well it is free for some people. It’s free because I and veterans like myself provide it to them for free. They do not serve so that’s kind of a misnomer, that freedom is not free. I like to say that veterans provide the populace, who don’t serve, their freedom for free. It only costs us.â€Â

Turner, the Iraq War veteran, said in his e-mail that the United States might have to turn to a draft if it cannot fill enough uniforms to defend the country.

“I think having a volunteer military creates better cohesion within military units,â€Â Turner said.

Turner said that the question of how to make sure all Americans experience the effects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan goes beyond a draft or military service. He said he tries to “instill a connectionâ€Â through poetry and literature.

“It’s incredibly hard to fathom war taking place — right now — if you’ve never heard a 500-pound bomb explode in your neighborhood, when there are no roadside bombs blowing up the local grocery store, when [jets] don’t fly overhead each night as we sleep,â€Â Turner said.

Although serving one’s country is admirable, Turner said, not everyone would elect to “pick up a weaponâ€Â and join the “warrior class.â€Â

“I think it’s wrong to basically draft people into that warrior class,â€Â Turner said. “There are many alternatives to military service, which are still great ways to serve our country and local communities. Become a teacher. Help people to transition from ‘homeless’ to ‘home-owner.’ The list goes on and on.â€Â

Skylar Bautista, a political science major who said he comes from a long line of military family, said the draft is definitely one way to make everyone feel the effects of the war.

“I don’t necessarily think the only way we’re going to win is if everyone feels the effects of the war,â€Â Bautista said. “A lot of people don’t understand [politics] or don’t care, but if we enact the draft everyone cares, whether or not that’s good or bad.â€Â

Bautista, 21, believes everyone should serve their government in some way, whether in the military or the State Department or a federal agency. He said he wouldn̢۪t be distressed if he had to face the draft.

“I was actually planning on serving my country in my lifetime, so being drafted would, I guess, just be putting me in that situation maybe before I wanted to but it wouldn’t matter,â€Â Bautista said. “In fact, I’d probably volunteer if I found out that I was going to be drafted. I’d probably volunteer and try to become an officer.â€Â