How the Military Draft Works--Just in Case it Comes Back

Today is the 72nd Anniversary of D-Day, the biggest amphibious invasion in world history.  The brave men who fought and died that day were a mix of volunteers and draftees. Whether they volunteered to go or were told by the government to report for duty, they led the way to free Europe from the Nazis.

From the comments I have received recently when wrote about the draft, it is clear the commenters don't understand how the draft works.  From a very good Wikipedia article on the subject, here is the key line on how the draft works:

From 1940 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means. 

The military draft is just one part of the effort to recruit soldiers, sailors airmen and Marines (This is not a typo, Marines is a proper name, the others are adjectives, very cagey on the part of Marines). Whether there is a draft or not, if enough people volunteered to serve in the military to meet the national quota, the draft would effectively end.

One of my commenters was furious at the idea that someone would take the place of a person who got a deferment, but that is exactly what happens.

Let's say the Army needs 100,000 new recruits for the year 2025.  They have enough drill sergeants, enough barracks and enough equipment to feed, clothe and train these soldiers.  If there is a draft, the Army recruits all the soldiers it can, then fills the rest of the vacancies with draftees.

In many countries there are few or no deferments, especially for healthy young men.  But in America, deferments were rampant in the Vietnam War era.  When a draftee claims a deferment, the Army reaches further down into the eligible draftees to fill that place.

So if the Army recruits 75,000 and wants 25,000 more, they will send draft notices to the top 25,000 draft eligible people.  When 10,000 get deferments, the Army sends out 10,000 more notices, and so on until the quota is filled.

Whatever the excuse, whether the draftee is Amish or just too cute to crawl in the mud every deferment means the space is filled by another person.  So not only does someone take the place of everyone with a deferment, but they take the place of that draftee in the first year.  If, like the current Presidential Candidates, they took multiple deferments, the man who took their place went to the Army in the same year as the first deferment.

Without the draft, the Army has to change and lower it standards to fill its ranks.  The only way I was able to re-enlist at 54 was because the Army raised the maximum enlistment age to 42 in 2007 and lowered it again in 2010.  In 2007, the Army was desperate for recruits, so they raised the recruiting age, and lowered standards for education.  I got in.  If there was a draft, I would not have had a chance.  An 19-year-old would have taken that place.

Recruiting is a zero-sum game.  If the draft comes back and the government allows Vietnam era deferments, then poor kids will take the place of rich kids, just like during the Vietnam War.  And yes, the draft is a zero-sum game.  Open spaces will be filled.  And they will be filled by those who have no means to avoid the draft.

Dad's Biggest Payday Ever Thanks to Muhammed Ail

My Dad was a soldier during World War 2 and a middleweight boxer before the war.  After the War he went to work for a chain of grocery stores that eventually opened a three-acre warehouse in Charlestown, Mass.  Dad was a driver and a warehouseman for Purity Supreme Grocers making about $150 per week in 1964, not bad money at the time.

Dad played poker a couple of nights a week and confined his gambling to cards, except for an occasional bet on boxing.  In January and February of 1964, the talk among the Teamsters where my Dad worked was all about the Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston fight.  Most everyone he worked with was sure that Liston was going to pummel the loudmouth Clay.  My Dad was equally sure Clay was going to knock out the older fighter.

In the weeks before the fight, bookies were giving ten-to-one odds in favor of Liston.  Dad had a savings account he called his "Swiss Bank Account" where he kept his poker winnings.  He told me after the fight that he had withdrawn several hundred dollars to bet on Ali.

We listened to the fight on the radio, I don't remember why we could not watch on TV.  But Dad was right.  Ali KOed Liston and Dad won enough money to buy the only brand new car he ever owned.  One of his poker buddies owned a Chrysler dealership in Reading, Mass. He had a new car on the lot for more than a year that nobody wanted.  It was a blue 1962 Chrysler Newport sedan, the absolute basic model.  It had hub caps instead of wheel covers and it had a three-speed manual transmission with a stick shift.  My Dad bought the car with his winnings from the fight.  Dad never said how much he won, but it was clearly more than $2,000--the biggest payday he ever had.

  
Shortly after that fight, Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali.  My Dad remained a fan.  "He's a loudmouth, but he is not all talk.  He can fight," was my Dad's view of the Ali.