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How would a mandatory US military draft go down?

sportage

sportage

Lifer
With all the world conflicts, major conflicts, and with imagining possible future war direct with Russia, involvement defending Israel if directly threatened from nuclear attack, and china if they became aggressive and took sides, then add in conflicts in all those oil rich middle eastern countries, if it looked like huge numbers of American troops would be needed across the globe to engage in war, how do you feel a national mandatory draft would go down with American society today?

Sorry. I didn't word that very well.
But you get the point.
I wonder how your typical teen, and typical young adult, would react to the real probability and likelihood of being drafted?
How parents wound react to their sons and daughters facing a real possibility of being drafted and going into war.
Not war as we know it on tv, or in some video game, but war where real live bullets and bombs are directed at YOU!

With today's invisible wars where war seems like just a video game.
Something you tune into CNN, for an hour to catch the shock and awe.
Wars where we no longer see the dead US soldiers coming home loaded off planes in coffins.
Wars where only those "other" kids choose to take part in.
Wars where war and death are seldom linked together beyond statistics.
Wars where personal detachment as a nation is all too easy.
Wars that we can just simply ignore and go about our personal daily life and concentrate on other things like that new HBO series, or that new iPhone release, or choosing which college the kid might attend.

What if that protected life of ours were not so protected after all?
What if some future president were to announce a draft of all eligible US citizens?

Put down your xbox controller kids, you're going to war.
Forget about college mom and dad, your kid is off to boot camp.

Considering how detached we are from what goes on around us, especially war and world events, I can not imaging the reaction from kids and more so from parents if a draft actually became reality.

What got me wondering was hearing that Israel is calling up some more 80,000 enlistments for their current conflict. I think it was some 80,000?
And how in Israel, it is mandatory anyone and everyone of age are obligated to duty if called.
No exceptions.
Something our American kids nor patents can relate to.
Nor required of since LBJ, Nixon and Vietnam.
And you remember how well that draft went down with America.

I can not imagine the reaction from today's average kid, or parent, where their kids were required to serve in the military, like it or not.
Personally I think our society would go absolutely insane over that reality of a mandatory military draft.
Even with a high stakes situation, we'd simply feel technology should do the dirty work.
Never our precious children.
 
The military is not interested in another draft, too much officer fratricide in Vietnam and rampant drug use and bad morale due to the massive escalation in average days in combat in the new total war paradigm you fight when you become an imperial power, as wars becoming subjugating the populace instead of fighting governments and that takes a toll on the soldiers, when days in combat goes from 10-20 in WW2 to 200+ in Vietnam, and now soldiers are seeing 600+ days of combat in Afganistan/Iraq.

Also we have an aging society, we don't really have a huge stock of young mustangs to draft, the average age in the military is going up a lot as a result. Most of the kids today are pampered compared to the generation that came out of the Great Depression and you are absolutely right their parents will go ape protesting a draft.
 
there will never be a draft again cuz if there was, the population would then scrutinize stupid wars like afghanistan/iraq/syria, and immediately reject the policy and the gov doesnt want that. nobody gives a crap if some dumb volunteers want to go to a foreign country and murder people by choice, even if they think its wrong, but the minute you pull people out of college who dont want to do that schitt there would be a massive uprising from the populace against war and the gov. the gov doesnt want that, why would they deal with that if they could do it with volunteers and get no opposition vs. using a draft and likely having the population totally oppose/shut down the war

the us gov can get away with getting massive numbers of people killing/maiming/ptsd-ed by saying "well they volunteered and they knew what they were getting into", but they cant use that excuse if they drafted peepul who clearly dont want to involved in stupid schit war.
 
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I got drafted. Went straight to 'Nam and survived.

If it can happen to me, it can happen to any male citizen of draft age.

All it takes is some dumb ass politician owned by control freaks who are willing and able to send kids into the meat grinder for fun and profiteering. 😉
 
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The likelihood of a draft gets lower as time goes on. Wars these days don't really involve the ground troops like they used to. It's especially true when you don't intend to occupy the country long term.

Anyway not saying it's impossible but it's very unlikely with our modern military.
 
Naeeldar said:
The likelihood of a draft gets lower as time goes on. Wars these days don't really involve the ground troops like they used to. It's especially true when you don't intend to occupy the country long term.

Anyway not saying it's impossible but it's very unlikely with our modern military.
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/thread
 
Doubt it'll ever happen. I can't imagine we'd need so many troops as to have a draft anyway, just due to the modern nature of warfare these days.
 
Genx87 said:
What is the lefts fascination with bringing back the draft?
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They think a draft would mean (1) the population would reject wars they don't like, such as Iraq, (2) they could spend less money on the military which they like, and (3) that would free up money to spend on social welfare spending. What they seem to forget is that Democrats like intervention just as much as the right, only in different places for different reasons.
 
glenn1 said:
They think a draft would mean (1) the population would reject wars they don't like, such as Iraq, (2) they could spend less money on the military which they like, and (3) that would free up money to spend on social welfare spending. What they seem to forget is that Democrats like intervention just as much as the right, only in different places for different reasons.
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I would potentially support it if there were not exemptions. (outside of a few obvious ones like physical/mental disability, etc) As it worked in the past the elites were no less likely to engage in warmongering than they are now simply because they still wouldn't be sending their kids to die. Deferments for everyone!
 
radtechtips said:
I'm 17 and I know I would try as hard as I could to get into Airforce ROTC.
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I went Navy, and I'd say that's a better bet overall. Sure you have to deploy on ships and that kind of sucks sometimes, but at least you get to live in and visit better places. Look at where Air Force bases are located, it's a sadness pile.
 
My opinion is that, given our modern military, if another draft is ever needed it really won't matter at that point because everyone is going to be fighting for their lives. Basically, end of world shit (or at least end of US) and the draft isn't going to be of much consequence.
 
Genx87 said:
What is the lefts fascination with bringing back the draft?
Click to expand...

There is your answer.

eskimospy said:
I would potentially support it if there were not exemptions. (outside of a few obvious ones like physical/mental disability, etc) As it worked in the past the elites were no less likely to engage in warmongering than they are now simply because they still wouldn't be sending their kids to die. Deferments for everyone!
Click to expand...

It allows liberals to live out their fantasies of having the government kill rich people in a vaguely plausible fashion 😛
 
eskimospy said:
I would potentially support it if there were not exemptions. (outside of a few obvious ones like physical/mental disability, etc) As it worked in the past the elites were no less likely to engage in warmongering than they are now simply because they still wouldn't be sending their kids to die. Deferments for everyone!
Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly second the notion and the motion.

As an aside, in reflecting on the NY draft riots of 1863 and a hundred years later during those college campus protests of the Vietnam era leading up to those four dead students at the Kent State campus who were shot and killed by our very own National Guard troops, I wonder what it would be like in the future if and when that certain crop of draft age youngsters face the same dilemma.
 
eskimospy said:
I would potentially support it if there were not exemptions. (outside of a few obvious ones like physical/mental disability, etc) As it worked in the past the elites were no less likely to engage in warmongering than they are now simply because they still wouldn't be sending their kids to die. Deferments for everyone!
Click to expand...

Fine with it being universal, but the draft didn't stop us from either Korea or Vietnam so why would it stop the next war? Heck, Vietnam may be the conflict where we had the least strategic interests or geopolitical considerations of any major conflict we've been in.

If the last 20 or so years of American military history haven't taught us the lesson, the draft never will. Whether it's to "stop terrorism" (Afghanistan), remove dictatorial threats (Iraq), or "standing up for human rights" (Somalia or anywhere in Africa for that matter) none of them have really been worth the price.
 
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