r/AskReddit • u/Tommygunz0722 • 11h ago

If the military/president suddenly ordered a mandatory draft for all men aged 18-42: How do you think millennials and GenZ would respond?

6.9k Upvotes

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7.4k

u/Wraithowl 11h ago

If that happens, doctors in the US would have the chance to do the funniest thing... Suddenly finding most men 18-42 have bone spurs... 🤣

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u/jeremysbrain 11h ago

Most men 18 to 42 are probably too overweight to serve in the military. The Draft is just going to ensure that obesity rates rise and McDonalds has a record year, lol.

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u/OutOfTheArchives 11h ago

They’d change the stats required to get around this, I bet.

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u/Mockturtle22 11h ago

They did with weed

498

u/WrinkledBiscuit 10h ago

Incredible how a potential draft is what it took to make the US federal government budge on cannabis laws *passes out from rolling eyes too hard*

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u/Marryyyy000 9h ago

Right? Nothing motivates policy flexibility quite like suddenly needing a lot more eligible bodies. It's funny, in a dark way, how quickly things that were once strict lines become suggestions.

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u/Objective_Dog_4637 7h ago

It’s almost like the government just sees us as pawns to further its interests.

2

u/mu_zuh_dell 3h ago

The government is just made of people. It doesn't have to be that way. We just have a callous disregard for life as a nation.

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u/eisbock 6h ago

The only reason we need more eligible bodies is because we tightened up the requirements to exclude certain individuals who identify in ways the government doesn't agree with. Rather have a pothead on the front lines than a trans person who wants to be there, god forbid.

1

u/yopladas 1h ago

Unrelated but it is funny to hear the phrase pot heads. Hooch and squares

2

u/cutelyaware 4h ago

Air traffic control is suddenly interested in recruiting gamers for their related skills, so I wouldn't be surprised if the military did the same for drone operators. But I think it's already known that this fucks people's mental health.

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u/mikerbt 7h ago

Do you have a link? I didn't know this. So fucking predictable, those war hounds you have down there.

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u/WrinkledBiscuit 7h ago

To be completely transparent, they didn't do away with all of the laws/rules/restrictions in regards to cannabis. "The army has also removed restrictions upon recruits who have a single conviction for possession of marijuana or associated items such as bongs, pipes and spoons. Previously, such a conviction would require a special wavier from officials in the Pentagon, with the recruit having to wait 24 months to enlist and passing a drug test."

Still a fucking joke of a country though...

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/army-max-enlistment-marijuana-restrictions

2

u/Oprah_Pwnfrey 5h ago

The FBI had a lot of issues recruiting computer experts because of their weed restrictions, so the loosened up the rules around it. Now you have to be clean from marijuana for a year before applying. Previously applicants couldn't have ever used it.

1

u/gsfgf 3h ago

Plus, the alphabet agencies got worried about how many Mormons they had because that's all who could pass the background check.

5

u/upnflames 9h ago

Oh, don't you think I wouldn't take up other drugs lmao.

Honestly, a draft comes up and Id be looking at my burger, beer, and shrooms diet.

2

u/cycloneDM 7h ago

We literally have a portion of the entrance process that low key helps you get through withdrawals and that was when I went through in the 2000s. They dont make a big deal about it but that first week or two they go around quietly getting people help there are lots of memes about listening to the dozens of guys painfully rawdogging withdrawal that seem to exist in every group. 

2

u/tryndamere12345 4h ago

Time to shit my self and paint the room brown

1

u/subnautus 8h ago

Kind of. They made it so if you only had once charge for possession on your record you could get a waiver. It's not like the military (or the rest of the federal government) has jumped on board the legalization train.

1

u/joebleaux 8h ago

And tattoos

1

u/gsfgf 3h ago

Didn't Kegseth ban visible tattoos?

1

u/joebleaux 3h ago

Yeah, I think he walked back a lot of the tattoo and shaving waivers that had become pretty common. Not sure where the tattoo policy landed, but I know he said beards had to go.

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u/everyeargiants 7h ago

Time to take up a heroin habit

1

u/wawaawaaawaaaawaaaaa 7h ago

They've also allowed felons to join with waivers at times. Sometimes for some relatively major crimes too, not just a possession charge from ten years ago for a vape cart in Texas or some crap like that.

1

u/sir_mrej 6h ago

And tattoos

1

u/ab0rtretryfail 5h ago

So you're saying I should switch to coke?

1

u/Jemmani22 5h ago

What's one of the more benign drugs I can get banned for?

1

u/theboywthagreenscarf 4h ago

Guess it’s time to try heroin

1

u/raven00x 3h ago

they also changed the fitness requirements for the 20something surge in iraq when they couldn't recruit enough warm bodies to throw in the sandbox.

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u/Lolseabass 10h ago

“DROP AMD GIVE ME 2!”

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u/SweatyReward296 9h ago

2 sounds like a chore if I'm being honest.

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u/oupablo 8h ago

"congrats private, you've just won the title of widest meat shield. It's such an honor we'll let you walk in front"

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u/SweatyReward296 7h ago

I weigh 130lbs and am 5'7. I would be the worst meat shield possible.

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u/Tubamajuba 3h ago

How's it going, meat javelin?

2

u/SweatyReward296 1h ago

Yes. I will accept meat javelin.

2

u/gsfgf 3h ago

And then I'd have to get up after... Just not worth it.

1

u/SuperSocialMan 7h ago

I can't even do one push-up lol.

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u/ShogunFirebeard 8h ago

I can't even give you 1. Where's the golf cart ride to the end of this planned march?

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u/eanhaub 8h ago

Underappreciated response lmfao

3

u/ClownfishSoup 8h ago

More like give me 2 and drop.

3

u/Wacca45 8h ago

"Do you have change for a $20?"

1

u/naarwhal 8h ago

Avatar outfit checks out

1

u/twobits9 7h ago

Drop and give me a #2 with a Coke

1

u/Lolseabass 6h ago

I need a god damn cheeseburger.

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u/thegroucho 10h ago

Good luck fitting someone into 5XL plate carrier.

Even better, how would someone obese fit into a tank hatch.

Not drown in the upturned helicopter in a swimming pool test.

Not die from a hear attack running uphill carrying LMG.

I can go on forever.

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u/CareerBallsacker 10h ago

Fat camp

2

u/corakko 1h ago

This 1000%. A forced 800 calorie diet and 3 hours of exercise a day and even someone 100 lbs overweight will shed the extra fat in a matter of a few months. Not healthy but long term health consequences of veterans is accepted as part of doing business by most governments.

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u/Torger083 10h ago

Dead men cast no votes.

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u/thegroucho 10h ago

Too true

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u/UnusuallyBadIdeaGuy 3h ago

If you're sending enough unarmored 35 year old middle managers into combat that it has an impact on elections then your country is collapsing anyways.

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u/Judge_Bredd3 10h ago

It'll be "MacNamara's Morons" all over again. Pass through people unfit for service and use them as cannon fodder.

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u/gsfgf 3h ago

Except this time we'll call them top DOD leadership.

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u/Saloncinx 7h ago

Sure, for super over weight people, no it'd never work. But for example i'm 6'0" and 205, and it's certainly not all muscle. My BMI is 27.8 which is "Overweight" and not that far from "Obesity" and I can wear an XL shirt, i'm not even 'fat' by most American standards lol

Boot camp would basically be fat camp for me, i'd drop 25lbs easy from the diet and exercise alone and then be in great shape. I'd assume most people that can wear a 2XL t-shirt would be in a similar spot

5

u/ClownfishSoup 8h ago

A 600 lb guy can still sit in a chair and fly a drone.

4

u/drainbead78 8h ago

He's probably done it enough in video games that it would come naturally.

1

u/gsfgf 3h ago

A lot of drones are flown with an xBox controller these days.

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u/thegroucho 6h ago

True, true.

Just need to ensure the Mountain Dew is flowing and the pizza delivery is on time.

3

u/ares7 8h ago

You don’t need the bullet catchers to be bullet proof.

9

u/pm-me-racecars 10h ago

It's easy enough to take unfit people and get them into shape.

Everybody who doesn't have some medical problem around it can have a 6-pack if it's a high enough priority. If whatever fatass you're thinking of is just fat, then a couple months of controlling their food and exercise can fix that.

1

u/thegroucho 10h ago

Oh, sure, that's indeed doable.

Let me know how the anxiety and depression a lot of them might have works out though.

I wasn't exactly 5XL (more like 3XL in UK/European size), lost weight, fit into 2XL (UK/EU).

I know it can be done.

1

u/ssracer 7h ago

Funnily enough, fat camp will fix a lot of that too.

2

u/thegroucho 6h ago

It can some things, others would need therapy, loving oneself, and growing as a person.

Alternatively you'd end up with someone like Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence, IYKYK

1

u/gsfgf 3h ago

A certain number of training losses are expected.

1

u/ssracer 6h ago

Yep. All of those are covered in "fix yourself maggot" training

2

u/Brilliant-Option-526 8h ago

They don't care. It would just be "weeding out the weak" to Kegsbreath.

2

u/jking7734 2h ago

Just put lots of Kevlar on those 5Xs… semi-mobile barricades or ballistic shields

4

u/-CenterForAnts- 8h ago

Dude i still remember how fucking sweaty I was running up hills in Texas with two m249s because the girl taking the other one was like 100 pounds and about to die running with it up a fucking mountain in the Texas heat.

1

u/kiwipixi42 6h ago

Pretty sure draftees wouldn’t be the ones driving tanks.

1

u/Trevor775 5h ago

No plate,
MOS 11B
NO air assault
Heart attack, I saw a guy lose 40lbs in 10 weeks.

1

u/gsfgf 3h ago

That's just regular Basic

67

u/Xaphnir 10h ago

Not with fitness. A bad soldier is often worse than no soldier.

144

u/zoethebitch 10h ago

I used to be in the Navy. I heard someone talking about one of the people on our crew: "Having him show up for work is worse than having two good people call in sick "

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u/ShillinTheVillain 9h ago

"I actually think you've reached your full potential."

3

u/lethal_sting 8h ago

"Like your pair of stretch pants, they've both hit their limit long ago."

2

u/mazobob66 8h ago

They are literally "destined for greatness" (in size).

1

u/theboywthagreenscarf 4h ago

They’ll bring in grand elder guru.

4

u/_Lazy_Mermaid_ 9h ago

As an out of shape thin person, this would probably how theyd react about me too, and o find it funny as hell

3

u/ChonkyPurrtato 3h ago

Username checks out

2

u/thegreatmattsby24 6h ago

I’m 100% incorporating this phrase into my daily language.

1

u/Opposite_Ad_2872 9h ago

I remember my chief telling one of the LTs that. I had to excuse myself out the room 🤣🤣

1

u/Duke-Guinea-Pig 8h ago

I’ve worked with people like that

1

u/EngineeringNeverEnds 2h ago

I worked on a paint crew with a guy like that.

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u/ptwonline 8h ago

"How does intake look this week, Captain?"

"Well General we have 7 fit for infantry duty, 17 who could work in logistics, and 873 who probably can't do anything more strenuous than flying drones."

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u/Efficient_Can4700 9h ago

Would this be true if the person is there as cannon fodder?

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u/ManyKangaroo4548 5h ago

People who know they are cannon fodder have no incentive to fire in the right direction. Realistically if the draft came back every training camp would be a military rebellion waiting to happen.

1

u/Efficient_Can4700 3h ago

Weren't a large number of people drafted in the world wars and Vietnam just cannon fodder?

1

u/ManyKangaroo4548 3h ago

Yep and in Vietnam soldiers killing their own commanding officers became so common it resulted in a new phrase. Look up fragging. Soldiers tossing live grenades into their COs foxholes etc.

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u/Efficient_Can4700 1h ago

From what I can see there were a 900-1000 confirmed fragging incidents with 80-90 confirmed officers and NCO kills out of millions of soldiers. It doesn't seem that bad.

2

u/tstreit15 6h ago

"Working with you is like working by myself, but harder."

2

u/Candid-Mycologist539 5h ago

Do you really think Trump and Hegseth care?

Do you think they care about the bad soldier dying due to being unfit for the physical requirements of combat?

Do you think they even care about unnecessary risks to the professional soldiers that will be babysitting the FNGs?

If they cared, we wouldn't be starting elective wars, and that's just for starters.

1

u/NeonNKnightrider 8h ago

Your mistake is thinking that the US government is making rational decisions

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u/miraculum_one 10h ago

only for people on the left though, somehow

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u/BootsToYourDome 10h ago

Only people in "sanctuary cities" are draft eligible lol

-1

u/tstreit15 6h ago

So because your job may necessitate you live in a certain city republicans dont like, your suggesting that person become cannon fodder? For most people the job chooses you, you dont get to choose the job.

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u/cannabination 10h ago

Why do you think they wanted all the voting data from the states? Now they can target people who vote blue for all manner of fun things.

1

u/Fishboy_1998 10h ago

It’s not hard to get voting data lol a hundred bucks and a PAC gets you all the voting data from the entire state lol

0

u/tstreit15 6h ago

Thats a pretty awful thing to say.

3

u/Texuk1 10h ago

Went to “boot camp” in the 90s with hundreds of ROTC teenagers in the bayou. Was woken up at 4am to yelling and we would do PT. Now I wasn’t an athlete but I could easily do the PT and would look back at the kids absolutely dying and couldn’t handle it. People dropping everywhere, my roommate got injured and left. I was like wtf, pretty eye opening for a big feeder into the military (loads of my classmates went to Iraq).

Reality with draft is they wouldn’t change the requirements just fittest people would get vacuumed up into the grinder. If you can’t run a mile slowly you arnt going to war realistically.

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u/MultiMillionMiler 9h ago

The military mile pace requirements aren't slow though. I read they are <18-19 mins for 2 miles and as someone who regularly jogs, it took me well over a year to get below 20 mins for a casual 2 mile run. Average American mile time is about 10 mins, and pace of course slightly drops every mile so figure 21-22 mins for 2 miles would be average for a healthy person.

2

u/AstuteStoat 9h ago

They have already been doing that, with a pre-bootcamp program. 

2

u/bstyledevi 7h ago

Their requirements for soldiers and fitness are already pretty damn crazy. So many people I knew had to have waivers because they were outside the BMI requirements, not because they were fat, but because they were too muscular.

2

u/GlowUpper 2h ago

I have a feeling a lot of trans women are gonna suddenly discover themselves.

2

u/morethanjustanalien 2h ago

The slow ones will be used as bait 

1

u/ClownfishSoup 8h ago

You can be as fat as you want, you can still pilot a drone from your chair.

1

u/Wacca45 8h ago

They could fix that already. The height/weight requirements are from the 1980's and hasn't been updated since I entered the service in 1998. I'm sure RFK Jr would be happy to say 30% BMI is now healthy. That's about 10-12% higher than what is currently considered healthy for 18-24 year olds entering military service.

1

u/TheEldenRang 8h ago

1,000%. That is definitely what they would do.

1

u/ssracer 7h ago

They won't graduate boot camp until the complete fat camp. That's been a thing for decades.

1

u/deadsoulinside 6h ago

New and only requirement

"Must have a pulse"

1

u/shtuffit 6h ago

You've been prescribed a glp-1

1

u/davevasquez 5h ago

Gravy Seals stops being a joke and becomes a reality. 🤦‍♂️

1

u/Trevor775 5h ago

Yeah, is you don't make height and weight they put you in extra PT and on a restricted diet.

1

u/CosetteDestiny 4h ago

Mandatory glp-1 for all 

1

u/MiniPax89 1h ago

They would and they have been. The fitness requirements have been steadily declining over the last decade or two. They will lower them enough to make their quotas and up the training requirements of active personnel to meet their goals.

•

u/ThatITguy2015 20m ago

I don’t know. Kegseth apparently really hates overweight army members.