A United States senator’s suggestion to reinstate the military draft doesn’t sit well with some young Lawrence residents.

“I would most definitely be a conscientious objector,” said Dan Smith, a 16-year-old sophomore at Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive. “I’m either gay or going to Canada.”

Though the Bush administration has said reviving the draft was not necessary, some in Congress have questioned whether the long-term nature of the global war on terrorism might require a return to the system of military conscription that was abandoned in 1973.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., on Wednesday raised the possibility that compulsory military service might be needed. The nation is engaged “in a generational war here against terrorism,” Hagel said. “It’s going to require resources.”

“Should we continue to burden the middle class who represents most all of our soldiers, and the lower-middle class?” Hagel said. “Should we burden them with the fighting and the dying if in fact this is a generational — probably 25-year — war?”

If that’s the case, the government eventually would tap into the pool of citizens that includes Smith and his young friends. Huddled after school Thursday in a small group outside Lawrence High School, 1901 La., the sentiment was mutual among males and females. Talk of the draft has not specified that women would be included, but women routinely fight alongside men in the battlefield.

“It would be a very sad time,” said Kat Goeke, a 16-year-old LHS sophomore. “I wish everyone would be like, ‘Let’s have peace on earth.'”

Smith’s father avoided service during the Vietnam War. David Smith, associate professor of sociology at Kansas University, didn’t dodge; he went to college.

“Like many people, I was opposed to the war in Vietnam,” David Smith said. “I was unexceptional. Many millions of people were drafted, and many millions had student deferments.”

Should the draft be reinstated, Dan Smith wouldn’t be able to avoid service so easily.

According to the Selective Service System, current draft law would allow deferment only long enough for a student to finish the semester during which he or she was drafted. College seniors would be able to finish their senior years.

The Selective Service denies any reported scramble to conduct a draft in the near future on its Web site. Though the Bush administration says it sees no need to reinstate the draft, it is pushing for improved Pentagon management of the 1.4 million-strong force to meet wartime needs, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday.

“I don’t know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstitute the draft,” Rumsfeld told the Newspaper Association of America’s annual convention.

He said the military simply did not need to abandon its all-volunteer approach.

Selective Service notice spurs worry about draft (11-7-03) Draft bill intended to spark debate (1-8-03) On the street: Should the United States reinstate the draft? (11-7-03) U.S. Selective Service System Sen. Chuck Hagel (D-Neb.)

“We have a relatively small military. We have been very successful in recruiting and retaining the people we need,” he said. Though the military is strained by its commitments in Iraq and elsewhere, it is working on ways to get more combat power out of the existing force, he said.

The Army, for example, is reorganizing to increase the number of combat brigades from 33 to as many as 48 in the next several years. And the Pentagon is finding ways to pull troops out of jobs that can be done by civilian Defense Department workers or government contractors, thus freeing more troops for combat-related duties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.