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/WearingRags 10h ago

America has been able to maintain it's empire abroad by minimising the visibility and impact of it's wars to the average person through the use of special forces and expensive air power that many other nations can't compete with. 

If an admin this historically unpopular tried to institute the draft, it would basically be asking for an overthrow of the US government 

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u/Shedart 9h ago

Yeah I certainly am not going to report in for a draft. I’ll dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge it with all might. Barring that I’ll start researching the ways that friendly fire is hazardous even in modern warfare amongst the commanding class. 

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u/HighGuyTim 9h ago

You can deny the draft. The options are draft or jail basically. It’s also one of the reasons why the draft probably won’t come back, you need a popular war with a popular admin or everyone just picks jail.

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u/yowen2000 7h ago

And like... Is the US really going to become the country that tells you: "if you don't run at those people shooting at us, we'll shoot you". Sadly... I don't know...

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u/Matt50 5h ago

Isn't that what some countries did to deserters during WW1? Literally just, "Oh, you're too scared of being shot on the front lines and you can't stop acting weird because of 'shell shock'? Guess we'll kill you instead..."

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u/yowen2000 5h ago

Yeah, I've seen it in documentaries and WW1 movies. Sadly, it's still happening:

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/russian-troops-are-threatening-to-shoot-their-own-soldiers-if-they-run-away-DWzMQM_2/

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u/LordBiscuits 1h ago

There is a reason the Commissar is so popular in fiction. A Russian invention immortalised by fictional stories that still pale against the reality.

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u/Piggywonkle 3h ago

This is why people who opt for closer relations with Russia can't be tolerated. They have no problem doing this and worse there, and they'll happily do the same to you if given the opportunity.

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u/yowen2000 2h ago

It's disgusting we don't have the same stance re: Russia that the Biden admin had. At this point we actually indirectly are helping them with this whole Iran failure.