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The Return of the Military Draft
Foreign Policy ^ | 7/10/24 | Raphael Cohen

Posted on 07/13/2024 9:19:38 AM PDT by hardspunned

After decades of becoming increasingly rare, the military draft is back in the debate.

Israel—which has long had mandatory conscription—is currently debating whether or not to lengthen its service for reservists as a result of its ongoing war against Hamas and Hezbollah, and it may soon expand the draft to the currently exempted ultra-Orthodox population following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling voiding the exemption last month. In May, Ukraine expanded its draft in order to replenish its forces as it continues to fight off the Russian invasion. Russia has similarly broadened its compulsory military service in response to mounting casualties in Ukraine. In the Baltic states, Latvia reintroduced the draft in 2023 following Russia’s attack on Ukraine; Lithuania reintroduced it in 2015 in response to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine; Estonia never abolished it. And halfway across the world, Taiwan recently lengthened its conscription period in response to increasingly menacing threats from China.

(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: canthappen; neverhappen; nope; wonthappen
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To: ansel12
If your friends were cowards who were afraid of being drafted then why did they all do the very thing they were afraid of, why didn’t they join another branch or get a different MOS?

They all weren't my friends and they weren't cowards. They got their advice from others who had been in ahead of them and steered them away from ground combat units.

The riverine ones in particular, while they would face snipers and sporadic attacks, had belt-fed machine guns to fire back, were a fast-moving target, and had other patrol boats nearby to back them up. They didn't sit every night in holes in the ground getting attacked.

201 posted on 07/13/2024 3:00:59 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: nonliberal

Ridiculous, I don’t know who told you that all the draftees went to Vietnam, you might want to start looking at some numbers to see how nonsensical that is.

America maintained millions of active duty then while only a fairly small percentage were in Vietnam.

For instance in the worst years of Vietnam we had about 3 million troops serving elsewhere than in Vietnam, in fact while our military reached over 3.5 million in 1968, all the GIs who ever served in Vietnam didn’t come close to 3 million total for the entire war.


202 posted on 07/13/2024 3:04:37 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: T.B. Yoits

If they were afraid of the draft and of being Army or Marines then they should have joined something else.


203 posted on 07/13/2024 3:06:10 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

I have no idea what their ASVAB scores were and what the Air Force and Navy recruiters were telling them.


204 posted on 07/13/2024 3:13:45 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: T.B. Yoits

Quit working so hard to push your wild claims from nowhere.


205 posted on 07/13/2024 3:14:53 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12
Quit working so hard to push your wild claims from nowhere.

Quit your day drinking.

206 posted on 07/13/2024 3:18:05 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: T.B. Yoits

Well, you are staying in form.


207 posted on 07/13/2024 3:34:13 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Alberta's Child

This government doesn’t have the trust or respect to implement a draft. I don’t see it happening. There would be a huge backlash. The government has been attacking the same groups of people who would usually fight for the country. Why would I fight for a country that has been calling me a terrorist threat for years?


208 posted on 07/13/2024 3:53:12 PM PDT by Rdct29 (The Democrats Are The New Nazi Party )
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To: ansel12
"I had never heard of Vietnam until I got there."

Not someone with a draft number but someone running away from a "less than stellar home life".

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ilpfM8sO31E

209 posted on 07/14/2024 10:26:49 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: T.B. Yoits

Whatever that is supposed to mean, you have made so many wild and goofy claims on the thread, give it a rest, you don’t know the subject.


210 posted on 07/14/2024 11:43:43 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: T.B. Yoits

From personal experience, the Air Force is the closest thing you can get to civilian life. My 4+ years in Germany were divided between Hahn and Spangdahlem. My Army battalion’s mission was short range air defense at 3 air bases, including Bitburg. The facilities and living conditions were first class.


211 posted on 07/14/2024 12:01:25 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!s)
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To: Night Hides Not
From personal experience, the Air Force is the closest thing you can get to civilian life.

Been there but I'd give the Air Force second after the Coast Guard.

I've known a few Coasties who were assigned to very small stations with maybe two boats. They didn't have manned gate posts, never ran into brass, didn't have a chow hall, never dealt with members of other branches of military on duty, and most obvious - they don't have as stringent weight / body fat / fitness standards.

They could have just as easily been working on a fire boat, at a marina, or at a ferry boat dock.

212 posted on 07/14/2024 12:33:33 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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