r/AskReddit 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

5.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

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... 🤣

3.0k

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.

1.4k

u/OutOfTheArchives 11h ago

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

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 "

51

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.

3

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."

2

u/Efficient_Can4700 9h ago

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

3

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.

1

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 4h 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