Mercenaries

Interesting discussion re mercenaries for the U.S. military at Marginal Revolution. Alex Tabarrok asks if U.S. business can do well outsourcing, then why not the U.S. military?

Around the world, many young people would kill to get into the U.S., now they legally could. Offer full U.S. citizenship to anyone serving honorably for, say, five years or more. Gurkhas and many others would galdly take up the offer, perhaps even weighing it against the one they have from Great Britain.

There would be an end to putting reservists and others who have qualms about going to the front in harm's way. The MR post mentions that many now sent are the wrong ones for the job anyway. It is simply win-win all around.