Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Buck McKeon says that if agreements on spending cuts aren't reached the U.S. may reinstate the draft.

“We ... need to understand what it’s going to mean to keep an all-volunteer force,” McKeon told Fox. “Do we want to re-institute the draft? Some of the cuts we’re talking about would take over 200,000 out of end strength from our military (via The Washington Post).”

The 200,000 figure was derived from the $600 billion in mandated defense cuts that will start in January 2013 if the 12-member supercommittee does not reach a budget deal.

“Sometimes, we forget that a volunteer military is very expensive,” John Noonan, spokesman for the Committee’s majority said. “No one is proposing resurrecting a conscript system. However, the cuts required under a sequestration scenario would force us to break faith with the troops -- destroying our ability to retain forces in sufficient numbers to meet the threats we face.”

Basically, if the cuts go into effect we will do so little for troops that's been promised that current troops will not remain, and new members will not join.

As it stands now Congress is already looking to cut promised pension plans and retirement healthcare.

The U.S. ended the draft in 1973 and switched to an all-volunteer force, but because all males between 18 and 25 are required to register with the selective service, conscription can be easily re-introduced.