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Government
Could the strike on an Iranian general trigger a draft? The Selective Service, explained.
2020-01-05
[Stamford Advocate] In the hours since the Trump administration announced that the high-ranking Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani had been killed in a U.S. airstrike, Americans wondered: Does this mean war?

And for young people, there was a follow-up: Would I have to go?

The impact of President Donald Trump's decision to order a strike against Soleimani has yet to be seen, it has turned up the heat on America's already tense relationship with Iran, a country the president has portrayed as one of America's most dangerous adversaries. Google searches for terms such as "conscription", "Selective Service" and "Iran" spiked, according to Trends data, as youthful social media users on platforms like TikTok and Instagram dealt with this collective political anxiety the best way they knew how: by spinning out endless memes about getting drafted in a hypothetical, but seemingly imminent, World War III.

On Friday, the website for the Selective Service, a federal agency tasked with maintaining a database of adult men who could be called upon should a crisis require a draft, experienced technical difficulties as people flooded the site.

Related, possibly coincidental, but certainly humorous: Selective Service Website Crashes as Panicky Snowflakes Fear a New Draft
Posted by:Besoeker

#27  All that panicking burns hellacious amounts of energy and wastes incredible amounts of time in certain circles, which keeps them from applying that time and energy to anything more productive... or disruptive.

It’s all good.
Posted by: trailing wife   2020-01-05 21:11  

#26  Hair-bear McCoi, what says you?
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 21:03  

#25  Serving the country is one thing. Giving a power mad Democrat president unlimited numbers troops is quite another.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-01-05 20:43  

#24  The draft is the ultimate imposition of government control over people's lives so of course the Democrats want it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-01-05 20:27  

#23  There.is.no.draft.

Can these hysterical fools stop and recognize reality? For once?
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-05 19:53  

#22  Now when the Donks go full 1861 again, there will be a draft in the territories in their domain. Remember, for them, its all projection.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-05 19:36  

#21  If the Pentagon can demonstrate how much fun it is to drive remotely-operated killbots on land, sea, and air, they'll have no shortage of applicants. Behold the power of weaponized autism!
Posted by: SteveS   2020-01-05 18:58  

#20  I'm 66, if they have a use for me they can call - still have my draft card somewhere.
Posted by: Glenmore   2020-01-05 18:50  

#19  There wasn't a Draft Panic when Obama killed OBL, or Kadaffi Duck, or Libya sank into chaos...

There wasn't one when Obama gave 150 billion to Iran, but there should have been.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2020-01-05 14:35  

#18  You'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at these panicky, hysterical ninnies.

The real problem is, these idiots are allowed to vote.
Posted by: Dave D.   2020-01-05 13:16  

#17  BTW. The fact that it is now iranq is totally boosh's fault.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 12:31  

#16  We need to see Trump order the Pentagon to vamoose from iranq in 48 hours, blow up anything we can't haul away.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 12:20  

#15  Now that IRBM treaty is kaput, station some in Saudville and make an unscheduled demonstration on iranian assets in iranq.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 12:18  

#14  Iraqis voting us out - love it. "Don't throw me into that briar patch..."

OrangeMan is making heads explode on six continents
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-05 12:13  

#13  Puppet Iranian Iraqi parlaiment just voted to expel American troops. So there's probably not much pressure for a draft just now. Trump wanted troops out, now Max Boot can complain about the Iranianraqis making that happen.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 11:58  

#12  Do I get to keep the rank I have in Call of Duty or Battlefield?

(No idea if they have ranks having not played them but you get the idea.)
Posted by: CrazyFool   2020-01-05 11:55  

#11  I hope they all suffer guilt for enjoying the freedoms the non cowards are paying for with their lives

Hope for something that might actually come to pass...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 11:34  

#10  Do I have yo go??? Should read, How can I serve??? A very large portion of the youth are cowards. Fortunately, our military strength is good and we don't want or need them. I hope they all suffer guilt for enjoying the freedoms the non cowards are paying for with their lives.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2020-01-05 11:29  

#9  ...And apparently the authors overlooked one tiny detail:

There is no draft. The machinery to execute it doesn't even exist any more. It was eliminated by order of the DoD in the 70s after we went to an all-volunteer military. To get one back, Congress would have to approve it. No, Orange Man Bad cannot wave his pen and phone and bring it back.

And - bluntly - Congress is unlikely to approve it, even if the Iranians were marching down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2020-01-05 11:24  

#8  Rather have a few hundred extra miniguns and generous ammo than a bunch of snowflakes that melt in the desert.
Posted by: Hupaitle Lover of the Platypi3869   2020-01-05 11:22  

#7  Perhaps not wholly in tune with reality, but I don't believe it. For starters just how much traffic is it going to take to shut down the selective service site? If we have learned anything over the last 2 or 3 decades certainly one thing would be that the world is full of computer armed pixies for hire and DOS attacks.

I would look to the resurrected answer or their masters the wwp.
Posted by: Cesare   2020-01-05 10:42  

#6  Can I keep my man-bun?

Will the Army pay for hormone therapy while I transition?

Can I wear my Kaepernick sneakers?
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-05 10:36  

#5  Probably lots of questions that will need answered in an new FAQ:

"Do they have skinny pants uniform option?"

"Can I keep my goatee?"

"What are the options for the craft beer ration?"

"Can my boyfriend and I be assigned to the same unit thingee?"

Come on, now, everyone pile on...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 10:31  

#4  Ignorance created by a education system that has chucked 'civics'. Lot's of time for "Death to America", little time given to citizenship.

Per the Constitutional authority granted to Congress under Article I, Section 8, Congress shall have the power to...organize and regulate the Militia. At the first sitting of Congress, they passed two militia acts in 1792. That is carried forward to today under Title X USC, subparagraph Militia.

Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

The 'draft' is a colloquial word when the term is Selective Service. That is, the selective activation of the federal unorganized militia. Whether you like it or not, if you are an American male citizen between 17 and 45 you are already members of the federal militia. That's the way its been since the inception of the republic.

Now skip over there to the 2nd Amendment.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Yeah, that same militia. The one the legislature and governor of VA are trying to shut down, as in "Disperse ye rebels".
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-05 09:57  

#3   And for young people, there was a follow-up: Would I have to go?

Pathetic. If a young man thinks like that, he doesn't deserve the food he's eating or the piece of ground he's standing on. Hundreds of thousands volunteer twice a year to jump through hoops for selection boards in lesser developed countries, just for a chance at paying back their motherland.
Posted by: Dron66046   2020-01-05 08:23  

#2  A lot of the left has cynically been asking for an active draft for some time now. Never mind that the DOD doesn't want it.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-05 08:21  

#1  More than just a bit of Jimmy Carter irony here.
Posted by: Besoeker   2020-01-05 08:15  

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