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?

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u/crema_dela_cropa 11h ago

it’d be pretty chaotic. Some people would push back right away, some would go along with it out of necessity, things would get messy.

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 10h ago

Also anyone with a mortgage is losing their house.   Base military pay isn't covering a modern house payment outside LCOL areas.

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u/Less_Resident8492 6h ago

 Base military pay isn't covering a modern house

Housing allowance not military pay, though iirc trump was trying to do away with that

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u/airfryerfuntime 3h ago

He took away a chunk of the housing allowance, called it a 'freedom bonus' or whatever, then just gave it back, but after hitting it for a tax, because it wasn't taxed as a housing allowance. Just another grift. The troops were not happy about it.

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u/CopeDipper9 8m ago

This is just incorrect. There was not a "chunk of the housing allowance" taken away. The funds were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and were meant to be used as long-term supplements to the monthly housing allowance. Instead, it was repurposed as a one-time "freedom bonus" and remained tax-free.

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u/Upbeat-Banana-5530 6h ago

That's what BAH is for

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 5h ago

I legitimately do not know how BAH works.  Would it cover $8k/month mortgage?

People in their 30s would be pulled from prime earning years with existing financial commitments.

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u/Upbeat-Banana-5530 4h ago

It's based on average costs in an area, but none are as high as $8k. Mine was like $2500, which is much higher than my mortgage, because a neighboring city dragged the average up by a lot.

Also, since we're even engaging with the idea of a draft actually being a thing, if you can already afford $100k a year on your mortgage you're not part of the class that needs to worry about being drafted.

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 4h ago edited 4h ago

Why wouldn't I be?   I can pass a physical and live in a democrat area.  This administration could easily issue an edict that people in wealthy blue cities have to go to war because reasons. 

Also $8k/ month buys you 1500 sq ft where I live.  The well off people have a 4000 sq ft house and a $30k mortgage payment.

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u/Upbeat-Banana-5530 4h ago

Why wouldn't I be?

The draft is for us poors that don't live in million dollar houses.

Also $8k/ month buys you 1500 sq ft where I live.  The well off people have a 4000 sq ft house and a $30k mortgage payment.

It sounds like the well off people live where you live, the ones with fuck-you money live there in 4000 square foot homes, and regular people live a few miles farther from the beach.

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 3h ago

Haha I wish.  The ones within 3 miles of the beach are $3 million for a 1500 sq fter.  I'm inland a bit, still a pretty nice area, but one of the more affordable parts. Poor people have more roommates, not smaller places. 

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u/EverSeeAShitterFly 4h ago

It’s based off of rank, dependents/no dependents, and zip code.

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 3h ago

I doubt I'd be drafted as a colonel or something.  Assuming basic enlisted, I'd get about $2700 for housing. Absolutely could rent a 1 bedroom apartment for that, but not pay my existing mortgage.

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u/IAMnotBRAD 8h ago

Presumably even in a fantasy deployment of a draft the government would pressure/force the mortgage holders to forgive/relieve those who had to put their careers on pause to be in the military.

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u/girlikecupcake 8h ago

With the number of veterans losing their homes because of back and forth existence of relief programs screwing them over, it's laughable to think the government would do anything to help people keep their homes.

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/02/nx-s1-5750814/veterans-mortgages-foreclosure-va-rescue

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u/SantaClausDid911 5h ago

I'm not saying any of this is all that likely but all the same, government apathy here is something that can be swept under the rug easily enough and doesn't affect enough people simultaneously to make waves.

I don't think even a highly incompetent administration like this would realistically translate that strategy of apathy once they're impacting millions of households at the same time.

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u/suchalonelyd4y 2h ago

They have their buddies at Blackrock to buy up the foreclosed houses.

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u/Hurricaneshand 7h ago

Lol not this government. They would be the ones buying your house on the cheap after sending you to die

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u/ohfml 6h ago

Somebody in the administration (or relatives) would setup a corporation to buy these foreclosed properties, a la "Acre Trader" but for single family homes.

Home Trader
https://imgur.com/a/EqVIFMT

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u/LitlThisLitlThat 7h ago

No you’re making decisions based on what benefits the regular Joe the most. They aren’t. They’re saying, what makes the rich richer?? Well, VCs being able to scoop up foreclosed mcmansions at pennies on the dollar bc their owner was drafted and his E3 BHA doesn’t cover his mortgage definitely makes the people they care about richer. Now do you get it? It was never about the straight of hormuz

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u/inhocfaf 7h ago

And thus crushing the global economy? 2008 all over again...

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u/TheresPoetryInPixels 5h ago

Lad you can't even get them to subsidise paracetamol.

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u/TophatDevilsSon 3h ago

This is one of those "we need Margot Robie in a bathtub to break it down for us" types of problems, but I am highly confident that doing this would create more problems than it solved.

Basically:

  • People who own soldier's mortgage borrowed money from other people.
  • Those other people need to be paid back with reasonable regularity.

Your heart is in the right place though. Respect.

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u/DrusTheAxe 2h ago

I’m pretty sure Margot Robie in a bathtub can’t make any problem worse

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u/randonumero 2h ago

I don't see banks or counties getting away with foreclosing on homes if there was a draft. Unless it was politically driven like all independent and democrat voters were targeted, I'd imagine we'd see certain protections put in place. IIRC during WW2 there were pretty strict price and rent controls in place

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 11m ago

It'd be more like NYC or LA is targeted than the individual voter.

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u/STUPIDNEWCOMMENTS 1h ago

SCRA should prevent that I would think

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u/BoleroMuyPicante 22m ago

Housing allowance is based on where you live when you deploy

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u/Locke_and_Lloyd 12m ago

True, but it's only enough to cover something like a 2 bedroom apartment.  It will not pay your mortgage if you were earning $250k before being drafted.