Mitch Landrieu: “I would add to this discussion that it is important for us as leaders to be open to change and to adopt new strategies.…”

“I would add to this discussion that it is important for us as leaders to be open to change and to adopt new strategies. The one thing that is certain about life is change. Those who adapt survive, and those who do not, do not survive. I believe when it comes to creating policies that secure our Nation and support our armed services, we always need to be open to those things that we need to do differently because circumstances are different, because the challenges are different. I would argue this is one of the issues that is at the heart of how we sustain a skilled, able, versatile, agile, and quick-to-deploy force without implementing a draft and having the ability to muster a large and effective force when necessary. This is at the heart of it. That is why Senator Durbin continues to come to this floor and why I come to this floor, why the Senator from Indiana, Mr. Bayh, and others on the Republican side have come to the floor. Because we need to make some changes. We need to adapt to the reality. Let me submit for the Record the reality of this situation. Since the Berlin crisis of 1961 through the Vietnam war, we only called from the Reserve and Guard about 200,000. From 1961 through the Vietnam war, basically to the early 1990s--I know Vietnam was over before then--but basically to the 1990s, we called up 200,000.…”