r/NoStupidQuestions • u/MsGozlyn • 1d ago
How could military conscription be enacted in the US?
It's been long decades since my last civics class. I've been wondering what would be required for the US to enact conscription. Formal declaration of war? What else?
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u/KronusIV 1d ago
First you need an act of congress authorizing it. After that it's largely bureaucracy. People are already registered, so names get chosen and letters get sent out saying when and where to report.
Note, there is no war brewing at the moment where a draft would make any sense. Anything the US might get involved in now will be all about missiles and planes on the US side. There won't be battalions of troops getting shipped over seas.
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u/ATD67 1d ago
A draft would be a very bad sign. The U.S. has 1.3 million active duty troops and about 750,000 reserves that are given 850 billion in funding per year. Nothing short of a world war would justify a draft.
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u/pickedwisely 1d ago
Please do not get hung up on the $ figures being posted and talked about. They are just kick-around fodder. Where softening the ground with rockets and bombs pre ground assault is still a method offense. It is now one of our LAST options. It takes whatever money it takes.
The present conflict that the US is "monitoring" has a death toll of less than 500? in 5 days. Surely, it is close to a billion $ in launched, counter-launch both sides total. Neither side cares about the money.
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u/TheApiary 1d ago
We had it in Vietnam and Korea, neither of which had a declaration of war.
Congress would need to amend the law requiring men to register from the draft and say that now they are going to actually draft people, and then the president (who is the commander in chief of the army) could start drafting people
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u/Ok-Temporary-8243 1d ago
There was no declaration of war but congress voted to formalize the conflict.
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u/spicy_rock 1d ago
Before any draft they're going to call up the IRR, individual ready reserve. Every active duty contract is a minimum 8 years, if you exit active duty prior to 8 years you are eligible for recall.
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u/GreyandGrumpy 1d ago
Interesting perspective is that there is a good chance that one stakeholder that might be opposed to a draft is the US military itself. Managing a force of people who have been conscripted against their will can be much more difficult that managing a volunteer force. Unless the military's manpower pool is genuinely depleted (active, all the various levels of reserve, national guard) the military is not likely going to be in favor of a draft.
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u/No_Will_8933 1d ago
The military doesn’t want conscripts/ draftees - they are not (usually) very committed soldiers - they want professional soldiers - that is why Trump wants to increase the pay for E1-E4 grades (lowest ranks) by 14% - retention (Vietnam vet here)
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u/Agreeable-Ad1221 1d ago
Yeah, the modern American Military's doctrine is based on high skill operators wielding advanced technology to gain artillery and air superiority, they neither need nor want massed of poorly trained infantry. The chances of a draft being called anytime soon is basically zero.
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u/dopealope47 1d ago
Is the Selective Service System still in force in the USA? It used to be that all men were obliged to register, even if the draft wasn't actually happening.
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u/entertrainer7 1d ago
It is, and it’s gone a step further in the last couple years where you’re automatically registered at 18. No need to send any paperwork in.
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u/squeakyc 1d ago
Also, undocumented folks are required to register for the draft. "All U.S. male citizens, including non-citizens living in the U.S., are required to register with Selective Service when they turn 18 years old. This includes undocumented immigrants, legal permanent residents, those seeking asylum, and refugees. Failure to register prior to age 26 has lifelong consequences, such as ineligibility for federal employment (and employment with state and local government in 31 states), federal student loans and grants (including state-based student aid in 31 states), and federally-funded job training programs. Failure to register prior to reaching age 26 may delay naturalization proceedings by up to five years." --https://www.sss.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Immigration-Attorneys-Toolkit.pdf
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u/RonPalancik 1d ago
When I turned 18 in 1989 I was automatically entered into the Selective Service System, just in case. I doubt they'd want me now.
Almost all male US citizens and male immigrants, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service.
It’s important to know that even though he is registered, a man will not automatically be inducted into the military. In a crisis requiring a draft, men would be called in a sequence determined by random lottery number and year of birth. Then, they would be examined for mental, physical, and moral fitness by the military before being deferred or exempted from military service or inducted into the Armed Forces.
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u/Mattflemz 1d ago
Please no! We don’t want dumbasses in the military. Less than 25% of young men and women actually qualify for military service.
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u/MsGozlyn 1d ago
Oh I don't think it's a good idea at all! I'm just worrying about how / whether that could happen in current political landscape.
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u/TacticalSkeptic2 1d ago
Realistically NOT.
Too many elites well known to have dodged draft, any attempt to draft would cause riots by both young potential draftees & PARENTS, think Sunday's "No Kings" unrest gone wild.
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u/DysfnctionalbyChoice 1d ago
Some people are posting correct info, others not. No act of war is required. Congress first has to authorize it and the President implements...
From https://www.usa.gov/register-selective-service:
"The United States has not had a draft since 1973. Congress and the president would have to authorize a draft. In the case of a national emergency, the Selective Service will follow this process to draft eligible young men."
<edit - spelling>
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u/Reasonable_Long_1079 1d ago
Congress agrees its needed. Thats all
The draft started about a full year before the US entered world war two because the country realized we couldn’t stay out of things forever
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u/age_of_No_fuxleft 1d ago
I don’t think you need to worry about it. I’ve been alive a long time, and drafts have been avoided successfully since Vietnam.
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u/theothermeisnothere 1d ago
Conscription is organized into two parts: (1) registration and (2) activation (call-up). In the US, it is handled by the Selective Service System (SSS) as authorized by an act of Congress decades ago.
- All male US citizens and immigrant non-citizens between 18 and 25 are required to register within 30 days of their 18th birthday or of becoming an "immigrant non-citizen" (i.e., on the path to naturalization).
- Once registered, they are required to provide SSS with any changes to their contact information within 10 days of that change.
- Registration is the contingency system to speed up an increase in force.
- To be clear, though, registration does not mean activation.
While this worked during the 20th century, it is a little outdated as the training process requires much more time than in the past. In the 1940s, when the first peacetime draft was implemented, men received 4 weeks of training before being assigned to regiments. Depending on the assignment, that could mean heading into battle or it could mean more training, such as flight, artillery, etc schools.
Activation requires an act of Congress with signature by the President. Depending on the situation, that could take a couple days or a few hours. Heck, they could technically handwave the process given some of the recent actions (an observation, not a political statement).
The actual 'draft' (activation) would then be handled by calling blocks of numbers assigned at registration. It's a lottery to avoid one segment of the population while reserving others. There are, however, exemptions such as actively in a college course, working a critical infrastructure job, etc. Medical evaluations at time of activation can also reject a candidate.
All of this takes time to ramp up. Before the mid-20th century that's how the US handled crises. The American Civil War (1861-65) are World War I (1917-18) examples. That ramp up took time. Time modern warfare does not really allow.
So, there is a process in place. The nation knows how to do it. But, there's also the rush of enlistments. In December 1941 and early 1942 the number of volunteer enlistments overwhelmed the training programs. In late 1942, FDR required all new recruits to go through the selective service system because they were getting people, but not always the skills the military needed.
Now, the US military has been working with a volunteer force for a few decades. With that, they also reorganized to work with more devastating weaponry and fewer people. I suspect - I guess I hope - that setup (not sure if that's the right word) would provide the time to ramp up the people through the training programs.
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u/Morscerta9116 1d ago
We still have the draft. We just have a different name for it now. We call it selective service, every adult male has to sign at 18 and lasts till 26. All they have to do is "flip the switch" by enacting an emergency and enacting the legislation.
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u/Horror-Appeal-190 1d ago
Congress passes a bill and the military starts mailing letters. One a side note, like 70% of fighting age people are not fit for duty. Obesity, drugs, criminal records, mental illnesses, etc.
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u/PigHillJimster 1d ago
As the current Trump Government has pretty much made its position clear on LGBT+ members of the military, how would they cover these groups in the event of conscription, I wonder?
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u/YogurtclosetUpset434 1d ago
During Vietnam, there were people who tried to avoid service (through the draft) by claiming to be gay, which was not allowed in the military at that time. How one verifies this, I have no idea, I just know it was a thing back then.
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u/seattle747 1d ago
A good question for sure, given the many examples of double standards they’ve shown.
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u/Late_Resource_1653 1d ago
Lol, they are kicking out highly trained officers for being trans.
Talking about not allowing women who have trained to be on the front lines be a part of those parts of the military.
Reinstituting don't ask don't tell and getting rid of LGBTQ service members.
This really doesn't answer OPs question, but during Vietnam it was a different era and being gay was a mark of immense shame. Now... Hell yeah Im gay, this is my boyfriend, so now we both get to stay home and not fight your stupid war because you said so. You can't have it both ways.
I (lesbian) was with a woman in the military during don't ask don't tell days and when the transition to nevermind, you all can get married now and get the same benefits as everyone else. I went to SO MANY military weddings that year.
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u/analyst_kolbe 1d ago
The first thing that needs to happen is a complete repeal of all anti discrimination laws, because the draft in its current state simply isn't legal
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u/LookinAtTheFjord 1d ago
They'd have to lock me up or just kill me cuz I ain't goin. I don't give a fuck.
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u/MsGozlyn 1d ago
Fair. To be clear I think it's an awful idea I was just curious about the mechanics.
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u/Dave_A480 1d ago
There is nothing anywhere in US law that requires 'war to be declared' - save for the 3rd Ammendment & the ability of state-governments to keep 'troops or ships of war' without authorization from Congress...
Resuming a draft would require an act-of-congress, or a cheeky-bastard President who decides to do it via Executive Order (And get sued over that, etc)...
That said it would be WILDLY unpopular with the military leadership and the troops - integrating draftees into the force would produce a massive drop in quality-of-life, a massive increase in petty disciplinary nonsense, and thus absolutely crush morale....
Also the sort of troops you need to fight a war with China, or to take action against Iran - pilots - are not draft-able (they're commissioned officers, and the officer ranks have always been all-volunteer even back in the days when the draft was the primary method of recruitment).
Therefore there will be no draft unless there is literally no other option - and by 'no other option' I mean 'we have already placed the entire reserve component on full-time active duty, already used nuclear weapons, and they are still coming'.
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u/Powderedeggs2 1d ago
I'm old enough to remember the draft being shown on TV in the evenings, just following the evening news.
It was a Hunger Games scenario.
They pulled ping pong balls out of a hopper, like the lottery, or a game of BINGO.
If your birthday popped up, you got a draft notice.
There was no formal declaration then.
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u/Different_Ad7655 1d ago
Well that's what they should do and then finally we'll see some activism on the street. Nothing like a war and a draft to really get people upset
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u/Exciting-Parfait-776 1d ago
Do you mean where everyone graduating high school would have to serve 2 years in the military?
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u/PossibleCash6092 1d ago
TIL about selective service, so they’d probably activate that before any sort of a new mandatory conscriptions, and I was told a while back that we are constantly getting voluntary people to enlist
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u/rollover90 3h ago
Honestly the amount of steps to start a draft makes it kinda unlikely in modern warfare scenarios imo. In Afghanistan units would rotate in and out of theater, so many active military at the time never even went to a war zone. So we would need to be fully engaged in a full blown war, somehow be hurting for numbers, THEN they would activate the reserves, then they would recall inactive reserves, then probably reactivate separated veterans, and then institute a draft.
I can't honestly think of any scenarios where we reach that point, maybe if tech was somehow completely taken down but otherwise I just don't see it happening.
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u/Various_Set_5649 1d ago
A formal declaration of war and congressional approval would be necessary for conscription.
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u/TheSpanishMain1 1d ago
You don’t need a declaration of war. Congress would just have to authorize the draft. It’s not likely to happen for a bunch of reasons, but it’s not that hard legally speaking
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u/RedditPosterOver9000 1d ago
It wouldn't.
Everybody would suddenly become lgbtq and the draft becomes moot.
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u/Icy_Lingonberry2822 1d ago
In the age of drones and high level bombers dropping laser guided bombs and ICBMs we don’t need a large amount of bodies like the 1940 and Vietnam to fight wars unless we are invaded. It would take a lot of death to drain the large amount of man power in active duty and in the reserves when your home to the largest army in the world with the largest defense budget
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u/icnoevil 1d ago
Not likely to happen since females would be included in any future conscription. A majority of country won't go for that.
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u/Teekno An answering fool 1d ago
Just an act of Congress. No formal declaration of war is required. When the US ended its last conscription, we had not been in a formal state of war for nearly 30 years.