The last military draft in the United States took place on December 7, 1972. Just thirty one years earlier we were attacked on a Sunday morning. Twenty one of our ships destroyed and two thousand four hundred dead. War was declared and thousands answered the call to duty. Thousands volunteered and there was a draft as well. Over the course of the war over ten million served. Often called the greatest generation for their courage and sense of duty they secured freedom. It has been fifty two years six months and twenty days since the final draft. The United States has not declared war on anyone since June of 1942 when we declared war against Bulgaria, Hungry and Romania. That hasn't prevented us from being engaged in combat, losing millions of lives. It's just that now, it's an all volunteer force.
Serving in the armed forces has always been a voluntary thing, at least in essence it has. Those that have been drafted voluntarily answering the call to duty. Although they were often looked down upon as somehow not quite as patriotic they served, they fought, and they died same as everyone else. Does the motivation for doing so really make a difference? Yes, those refusing to answer the draft were subject to prosecution, to penalty, and indeed imprisonment, branded a coward. But that is where all the exceptions and exemptions enter the picture. It isn't a modern day thing, you could simply pay for someone to take your place in the civil war to avoid that. Even today, without having had a draft in well over fifty years, we hear the derision hurled at individuals, you're a draft dodger! Sometimes the one hurling that insult never served themselves, but they had a good excuse. They always have a good excuse.
I was eighteen in June of 1972 serving aboard my first ship. I had enlisted in the Navy in January of 1971 on the delayed enlistment program. My name never appeared on the draft listing. I do remember some of my classmates and friends anxiously waiting for the list to be published. Waiting to see if your number was chosen. Vietnam was in full swing and having your number come up was a rather sobering thought! I hadn't joined the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army, that wasn't even remotely in my thinking. My oldest brother had been in the Navy, one of best friends Dad had been in the Navy and another best friend was joining the Army. I had to make a choice. I flipped a coin, heads it's the Army, tails it's the Navy. That was as as much though as I put into that. Nice to be young, full of confidence and bravado. I'm certain I wasn't the first to do something like that. Young men have often been anxious to "join the fight." It was going to be an adventure. Gallant or flippant?
Personally I think everyone should have to serve in some fashion. What I mean by serving is being held to a strict discipline. Being in the military does force you to grow up and mature a bit. Granted it doesn't always take and some will run, but for the most part it is a learning experience. You do learn to work as a team member. I know, it's an old story now, but when I was in school discipline was different than what it is today. Excuses were far and few between! We were taught you can do it without having a cadre of professionals giving you support and mental health days. You were expected to be on time, be there every day and pay attention. You were held accountable for any lapses! Our stress came from being held accountable. It was expected and you learned to deal with that. When you didn't, you acted out. Acting out wasn't tolerated or medicated, it was corrected. That's discipline.
With all this talk of war in the news today it does make me think about that. Things change, technology advances and the needs change. Do we need millions of service people to effectively fight a war today? I believe the reality is, no we don't. The fighting of the battles has become increasingly remote over the centuries. Today we can launch rockets, missiles and drones from anywhere on the planet and strike any other place on the planet. War has become quite impersonal! Well, except if you the one being bombed or whatever, that's pretty personal. Males between the age of 18 and 25 still have to register for the draft and that includes immigrants! Failure to do so is a felony punishable by a 250,000 dollar fine and/or five years in prison. That applies to all male immigrants between the ages of 18 and 25 including refugees, asylum seekers and the undocumented! Haven't heard of anyone being held to account for failure to do so, but I suspect there are quite a number that haven't. A bunch of draft dodgers!
The draft lottery was based on birth dates. The Selective Service System (SSS) operated draft lotteries between 1969-1972, assigning random draft numbers for men born in years 1944-1952 based on date and month of birth. The first men drafted were those turning age 20 during the calendar year of the lottery. Results were published in the newspapers.
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