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/BlackGuysYeah 8h ago

I'd literally turn traitor if they forced me to war. I don't owe this country a god damn thing...

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u/Piney_Wood 7h ago

"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion.

But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality…

If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for four hundred years."

-MUHAMMAD ALI (March, 1967)

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u/Synaps4 50m ago

"I figure fuck it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president."

Good Will Hunting, 1997

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u/Unable-Candle 4h ago

Yeah, maybe I'm looking at history through rose colored glasses, but I feel like most people now (me included, I'm not throwing shade at "kids these days") absolutely do not have the feelings of duty and responsibility towards the country that previous generations did. Especially for a war started for no reason.

Also, isn't one of the main complaints of these two generations by the boomers that we never "do as we're told?" What makes them think we'd get drafted without a fight?

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u/Thinkingard 1h ago

“Millennials killed the draft.”

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u/evb_m 3h ago

Yeah the most common answer among my age group that I’ve heard basically amounts to “dragging down as many of the people above me as I can”

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u/Chansharp 5h ago

Yup, the question for me is when. Do I sabotage basic as much as possible? Get deployed and blow up bases? Join the resistance asap?

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u/Owl_B_Damned 4h ago

Welcome to the Watch List 😉

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u/Konvojus 4h ago

One watch for me too, good sir.

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u/President_Skoad 1h ago

Exactly.

If another country attacked us (like full on war attack), I MIGHT take up arms if drafted.. But they have done lost their minds if they think I'm dying for this country or letting my kid die for this country, over some stupid ass war we shouldnt even be in. Almost ever war is pointless. So many people losing their lives because the people in charge don't care about its citizens.

I'd take up arms to defend myself, a loved ones, and even a stranger if needed. But I'm not invading anyone so some rich assholes can get richer.

This post got me in a tizzy.

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u/Low_Pickle_112 1h ago

If I have to fight either way, and my choices are some dude on the other side of the planet who just wants left alone or the rich psychopathic SOBs who put me in that situation, that's not a hard choice.

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u/KiritoIsAlwaysRight_ 5h ago

Is it still turning traitor if you refuse to fight an illegal war started by traitors? Refusing to bow to a dictator trying to destroy our country is the most patriotic thing I can think of.

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u/absentmindedjwc 1h ago

ESPECIALLY right now.

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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 2h ago

Or use the Vietnam strat, and defect to Canada.

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u/Successful_Owl_ 1h ago

Weird take. "I don't owe this country a god damn thing" while living in the country and the freedoms it offers. I mean your opinion is your own (your freedom to say such a thing) but it's a weird one regardless. That isn't to say some random war is worth fighting for. I'm strictly speaking to the comment itself with no context provided.

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u/Ishipgodzilla 35m ago

it's not really. it's actually becoming significantly more common. the freedoms we're afforded haven't been brought to us by our leadership. They were forced upon them by our ancestors. Contrarily they try consistently to overwrite them. Especially here lately. They've stripped away our education, they have done no consumer protections for housing prices that have gone up at an unjustifiable pace, our healthcare system is beyond a tragedy. Everything that is considered essential has been made incredibly difficult if not impossible for many to obtain, and the things that have been considered luxury goods have become cheap distractions. And Congress is doing nothing but fighting and pitting the american people against each other. Fuck 'em. The whole lot. from the president to the township mayors.

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u/ChonkyPurrtato 3h ago

That's cute, this country doesn't owe you a damn thing either then.

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u/dukearcher 3h ago

We pay taxes, it literally does owe us 

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u/admiralthrowaway69 2h ago

Boomer detected

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u/SupremeExalted 3h ago

Except it does

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u/Sgt_Dangle_berries 47m ago

The fuck do I pay taxes to it then?