“No draft! Got it?”

That’s what Congress appeared to say when it voted down a military draft bill by a resounding 402-2. But the bill wasn’t proposed for passage; it was designed to make the political point that if all young men and women could be pressed into service, the country might be less supportive of military actions.

That aside, there’s another issue that isn’t addressed by an up or down vote on reinstituting the draft. Do we have enough troops to carry out the various military missions around the globe? It seems clear that there is no political or grass-roots support for reinstituting the draft. But if experts who say the military is already stretched thin are right, then what is the nation going to do?

Consider the following figures taken from a recent Time magazine article:

• The U.S. military is deployed in 120 nations throughout the world.

• The number of troops serving overseas has risen from 203,000 to 500,000 since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

• All Army combat brigades have been sent overseas at least once in the past two years.

• Forty-three percent of the troops in Iraq are from the Reserves or the National Guard.

• The Army National Guard fell 10 percent short of recruitment goals. It’s the first time that’s happened in 10 years.

• “Stop-loss” orders have prevented the departure of thousands of troops who were nearing the end of their service obligations.

• One-third of the members of the Individual Ready Reserve are resisting a military call-up.

A study ordered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reported that the United States has an inadequate force to carry out all of its missions.

The Bush administration says it is in the midst of streamlining the military, which will allow it to do more with less. Congress did authorize 20,000 more soldiers for the Army. Kerry wants to double that number and dramatically increase the Army’s special operations force.

None of these solutions gets at the short-term peril facing the military, particularly in Iraq, where 137,000 troops are deployed in harm’s way. If a crisis erupts elsewhere, such as Iran or North Korea, the military will have a difficult time responding.

Our national leaders tell us that we have enough troops. If so, then why are they using the National Guard and Reserves at unprecedented levels? Why did they take the rare step of tapping the Individual Ready Reserve? Why did they issue those unpopular “stop-loss” orders?

Those are legitimate questions and until they’re answered sufficiently, rumors of the draft will persist.