The all-volunteer army, which many regarded as an uncertain if not dubious response to a felt political need in the context of the domestic Vietnam trauma, is now in its sixth year. Has it been successful? Will it last? This work raises some hard questions regarding its racial mix, the further integration of women into the combat army, high disqualification rates based on physical or mental shortcomings, and the shrinking pool of eligible recruits in the next decade. A work of scrupulous analysis rather than polemic, this is the first cut on a problem of growing importance.