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STORY: The Pentagon has started to call up its military reserve forces and the National Guard for active duty in preparation for an invasion of Iraq. While no one has promised an invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon said from January 10 to late February it would call reserve and National Guard troops to active duty. There are 60,000 troops stationed near Iraq now with an estimated 200,000 more to be called up by late march. The Texas National Guard and Reserves have activated 3500 troops. Army Public Affairs Officer Seargent Gregg Ripps: "Well the addition number, the round figure is 9,000. They tell me that the information as to how many in the Middle East is not available." How many of these troops will actually go to the Middle East or North Korea is uncertain. During the last Gulf War in 1991, half of the American troops were reserves. As the United States plans to have nearly 260,000 troops near Iraq by late March, Bush may call for additional deployments in other regions. Many lawmakers in Washington believe that a draft is inevitable. U.S. representative Charles Rangel of New York proposed legislation earlier this week to make the draft or the selective service fair. Texas representative Ron Paul opposes the selective service. His press secretary Jeff Deist explains: "He thinks that an all-volunteer military is always better. It's not only sufficient but it's actually preferable. The folks at the Pentagon will basically say the same thing. From a philosophical perspective, he opposes the idea of what, in essence, could be involuntary servitude. He doesn't think a free society ought to be ordering young people to go anywhere." In a draft, 20 year olds will be drafted first. If the military needs more youngsters, it will draft 21 through 25 year olds. After that eighteen and nineteen year olds may be drafted. E-mail David Stiles at stiles138@yahoo.com. This story was broadcast on January 8, 2003.