The problems with a professional volunteer army . . .

You attract a lot of nutzos:
Worried They Will Miss the War

"If you ask an officer here [at the U.S. Military Academy] for career advice," says Andrew (A.J.) Pulaski, the 2009 class president, "they say the first thing you need to do is get out there and get deployed. Because pretty soon the war's going to be over, and you won't have that legitimacy, being an officer—like the only one in the Army—that hasn't served."

And more troubling:

"Most of America seems to have forgotten we're still at war," he says. "I hope this reminds people that we're still here. After all, when Rome forgot her legions, her legions forgot her."

Love Is a Battlefield

Staff Sgt. Shaun McBride would rather be in a war zone than at home. He likes the adrenaline, he says, even the "fear someone can shoot you." He hates the petty responsibilities of home life, the bills and family issues.

In part, I guess this is the trade-off you get when you do away with a draft – you get more professional people, but you also have the potential to fill the military with people who like war and whose careers depend on its being waged fairly constantly. This needn't be a big problem on the national level (beyond obscenely large budget expenditures at least) as long as it's clear that the civilians are in charge. I don't want to think what could happen if our "legions" forgot us.

But even so, what happened to the reluctant warrior? I don't like the idea of untold billions every year going to support the lifestyles of professional killers-for-fun (I'm not saying most people who serve in the military are.). I'm as much for honoring those who sacrifice for their country as much as the next man, but I don't think its healthy to create an environment that breeds careerist warmongers. It's something that needs to be watched out for, at least.

As President Kimball put it:

We are a warlike people . . . When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching:

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44–45.)