[omegaham]

Conscription would spur an immediate and vehement backlash against the military.

But more importantly, there is no actual shortage of potential recruits. There is a shortage of recruits who meet the current military standards. You can very easily lower your standards and get more recruits from the pool that is currently disqualified for medical issues, criminal record, and general stupidity (that is, more stupid than the military currently is).

The reason why this isn't currently done is that the military doesn't need the bodies that badly, certainly not badly enough to justify the increased expense and frustration of increased shitbaggery.

The recruiting budget is huge, and I'm sure that the military is happy to mull this over in hopes of getting more high-quality candidates. If it doesn't work, they'll try something else.