WEBVTT - The Return of Conscription 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.680 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:09.080 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.119 learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:13.920 production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.120 Hello, welcome back to the show, Soldier. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.440 My name is Matt Hud, my name is Nola. 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.199 They called me Ben and you can as well. We're 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.919 joined as always with our super producer Dylan the Tennessee 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.840 pal Fagan. Most importantly, you are you. You are here. 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.760 That makes this the stuff they don't want you to know. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:50.320 Reporting for duty. We're talking. This is a special one 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.040 to all of our recently turned eighteen year old conspiracy realist. 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.160 Here in the United States, we have a ritual that 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.000 might seem strange to outside. I bet, I bet all 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.319 of us recording tonight can remember it. When you reach 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.319 the age of eighteen. In the United States, if you 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.280 are if you are termed a male, then you are 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.120 required to sign up for something called the Selective Service 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.360 System street name the draft. 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:21.320 Guys, do you think I could suck a golf ball 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:23.800 through a garden house if I tried real hard? And 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:25.000 is that part of the ritual? 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:27.160 It depends on how long the hose is Noel, but 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:27.920 I believe in you. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.280 You know, I'm sorry. 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.920 It fullat level Jacket. Yeah, one of the best films well, 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.120 Vietnam War, up there with Apocalypse Now. 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.360 I think it's tops, I really do. I think it's 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.119 it goes full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and a Platoon. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.520 I think people often malign Platoon, but I think it 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.360 has some really good moments as well. But Full Metal Jacket. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:50.400 The thing that's so great about it is it has 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:54.160 this like story structure that really shows you all the 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.120 sides of what it would mean to be in the 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.720 military during a conflict like that that is, you know, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.600 largely historically considered pretty unjustified. 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.480 But in real life you had to register right when 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:06.280 you turned a team. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.919 Remember it being a thing I was concerned about, yeah, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:11.760 when I was younger, because I mean, you know, I 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:13.720 think I had to ask a teacher or something like 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:19.040 that what this meant. Well, already having a little bit 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.280 of knowledge through films like we're talking about of what 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.000 it meant to be drafted, but I think at the 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:25.760 point that we were all in high school, it certainly 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:27.639 was it was voluntary. 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.040 Well, Georgia, the actual something right. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:32.799 You have to you have to sign up for the 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.679 for the Selective Service, but there was no active draft. 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:39.040 Right, you have to register. The onus is on you. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.600 And if you don't register once you get the card 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.720 that shows up in your mailbox, your doorstep, once you 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.880 get that dreaded envelope, not registering will have serious consequences. 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.519 You can basically never get a federal job again, say 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.840 goodbye to training and assistance programs from the government. And 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.200 if you are an immage grint, even if you are 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.639 in the country legally dodging the draft, which we'll talk 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.280 about at length, and lead to the loss of your citizenship. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.040 And that card, Ben, that was the thing that people 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.960 would burn and protests burn the draft card. Yeah, and 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:16.640 you were talking about some Georgia specific stuff that it 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:17.799 probably applied to all of us. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.400 Yeah, in Georgia, you got something in the mail that 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.680 just reminds you of how old you're about to turn 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.800 and what you have to do for the Selective Service 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.160 in the United States, the SS, Well. 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.280 I think that was my issue. It's one thing to 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.480 know about it, it's another thing to actually get the 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.320 notice that you have to register. And I think that's 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.960 why I clarified. I'm like what does this mean exactly? 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.560 And the issue I guess is that it could change 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.760 TBD right very much. 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.280 So that's a great point, Noel. 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:50.720 Just to point out on that card, at least the 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.880 one that I got, it mentions that it is illegal 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.560 to not register when you are of age and you're 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.480 a US citizen, and it can lead to imprisonment and 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.120 a fine. I don't know how much it was at 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.840 the time, but right now the fine could be up 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.880 to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars US. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:15.360 Yeap serious consequences. We also know that most of us today, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.560 most of us tuning in, especially if you're based in 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:23.120 the United States, you're probably going to associate the draft 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.400 with the Vietnam War because a lot of people have 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.960 real life experience with that still, and it's been depicted 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.599 so many times in works of fiction like The Things 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.680 They Carried or works of film like again the excellent Apocalypse. Now, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.160 but it goes so much deeper than that, and there's 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:46.200 breaking news. There's a growing concern. Tonight's question, as we 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:50.279 record on Monday, July thirteenth, twenty twenty six, will the 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:56.280 US begin conscripting soldiers again, and if so, what happens. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:05.080 Let's dive into it. Here are the facts. We call 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.640 it the draft here in the States, it's our local 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:14.320 term for mandatory enlistment in the armed services. Most other 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.600 countries call that conscription right or mandatory service. It's been 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:23.760 around forever, like Mesopotamia level forever. 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.040 Almost considered a civic duty, you know, as being part 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.080 of a society. You got to fight for that society, 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.479 which in a lot of ways makes sense, but it 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.960 gets complicated once we get into some real murky political territories. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:36.359 But in the old days, I imagine it would have 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.560 made sense to a certain degree that you know, if 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.200 you want the comfort of living in a protected civilization, 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.320 that you may be called up to participate in its protection. Yeah. 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.080 It gets hairy though when we're talking about some of 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.000 the early empires that were doing this kind of thing right, 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.599 because the empire rolls through, makes up some new rules 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.760 and then says, hey, if we need you, you've got 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:03.120 to fight with your blood and your arms, and you 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:07.839 have to defend this empire that now controls and owns 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.200 your entire society. 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:14.160 And you have to aid in us acquiring other empires 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.600 or in broadening the reach of our empire, so that 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.320 point it becomes a whole new thing, not just about 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.920 protecting you and yours, but about aiding in some massive, 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.240 essentially corporate takeover of the world. 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.920 Right right, right, And you have to comply because similar 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:35.240 to the way healthcare is tied to employment in the 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:40.680 United States today, in the times of ancient empires like Babylon, 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.840 before they had a warrior class, like the Ottoman janisaries 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.000 of later Eras, before they had a military elite, your 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.760 health insurance job thing. Right, The connection for your rights 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:58.440 and rules and responsibilities in this society was something called 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:03.560 income il m. It was a conscription system that said, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.839 if you want to own land, for the right to 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.640 own any land of your own in our empire, you 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.000 have to be a soldier when we need you to 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.240 be to your earlier point nol. And we know this 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:20.120 is true because it's literally carved in the Code of Hammurabi. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.800 And let's remember here that often when conscription is used 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:28.200 throughout time, it's used in what would be called in 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.240 emergency by the folks who are ringing the bell, right, 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.560 the ones who are saying, hey, hey, hey, everybody out, 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:35.880 it's time we need you. 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:40.120 For this emergence, you to serve, right, yeah, and we 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.560 know this is very popular for empires historically. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.640 It's actually more the rule than the exception. If you 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.360 fast forward a bit through feudal Europe and the Middle Ages, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.920 we'll see all sorts of similar systems. If you are 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.680 a peasant and you own land, you might be required 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.400 to look around your family and choose one guy from 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.920 your family for military duty, so everybody has to pay 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:06.600 a blood price. 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.480 And in the feudal system, and maybe a Game of 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:11.680 thronesifying this a little too much, it would be this 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.560 idea of these lords calling up their banner men, you 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.000 know that are sort of the folks under them. In 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:21.200 that structure, they answer to the lords of the region, 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:22.720 who answer to the king. 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.680 Right and when the lords of the region answering to 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.680 a king or attempting to overthrow a king also possibility, right, right, man, 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.559 when they fight or when they call up their troops, 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.960 they're all given. This often happened they were given like 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:43.000 a quota. Go back to you know, your little souzarain, 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:45.800 go back to the part of our area you control, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.520 and don't come back unless you have two hundred people 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.320 with you. We don't care how you get them. Just 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.640 make sure they can fight. And if you didn't own land, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.160 you were not immune to this. If you were a serf, 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.360 you didn't have much of a say in the in 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.240 the first place. The ruler said, jump, they had no 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:02.280 choice but to comply. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.160 Well, before we had things like nuclear weapons and cold 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.840 wars and all that. I mean, the measure of power 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.360 was how many able bodied humans you could call up 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:12.400 at any given time. 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.480 Yeah, and let's also remember that the lords are probably 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:17.880 still wearing their silken cloths. 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:20.800 No doubt about it. They're not riding out to battle there, guys. 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.000 They might ask some chain mill or some ceremonial armor on, 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.120 you know, and hang out on a parapet somewhere and 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:29.640 see you all off. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.680 Yeah, do check out our We did an episode on 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.400 Ridiculous History a while back on whether knights really wore 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.280 suits of armor and how it worked. But for the lords, 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:45.000 especially after a certain amount of time and aristocratic degeneracy, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:51.000 they became ceremonial pieces. These guys weren't on the front line. 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:55.840 Golden filigreed, you know, bespoke pieces that were worthy of 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.000 the station, not functional in any way, shape or form. 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:00.680 Yes, why don't presidents. 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:02.880 It's a good analog man. 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:07.120 And those portraits were exactly like the covers you would 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.680 see gangster rap CDs for their time, because they had 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.360 you know, they always had Nolan I. You were talking, 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.480 you and I were talking about this. It always had 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.520 like a little dog on the side. Well, sidekick, look 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.240 at my weapons, look at my jewelry. It is a 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:23.240 rap album cover. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.440 Well, real quick, Matt, you're talking about the President's the 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:28.880 analogy between you know, the lords and the kings and 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:30.840 the presidents. I mean now it's in of suits of armor. 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.120 We just have suits. Yeah. 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.120 It was just referencing system of a down, one of 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:35.320 the songs they made. 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.080 And we know this. We know that during the French 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.080 Revolution a lot of these nobles and rulers and aristocrats 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.040 did end up on the front lines because their heads 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.080 were taken from them. This is also right. This is 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.560 also where we see the first uh what we would 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:55.040 call the first like modern draft from which most other 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.280 draft systems. 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:58.319 Set placed on pikes even know. 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.920 Yeah, and an interesting change in the French Revolution is 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:07.400 that people were pressed into service regardless of their social 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.480 class under the old regime, and the us to be 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:15.440 fair caught onto this idea pretty quickly. We had something 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.160 like a draft back in the Revolutionary War. So far 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.080 up to now again July thirteenth, twenty twenty six, the 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.160 US has passed some version of a draft in six 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:33.080 separate conflicts, the aforementioned Revolutionary War, the Civil War Terrible name, 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.480 World Wars one and two, the Korean War, and the 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.720 Vietnam War, so only six times across like two hundred 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:40.520 and fifty something years. 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:42.760 Well, ben to your point about France too, I mean, 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.880 with the lower classes also being called up to fight, 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:49.880 the cause matters, you know, at a certain point, I mean, 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.440 those lower class folks would go on to fight, but 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.880 not for those in power against them, you know, to 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.640 protect their own rights. So you do get to a 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.440 really tricky situation where the cause you're being called up 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.360 to defend is not yours and does not in any 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:08.160 way aid you and your family. Then things really start 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:08.800 to get iffy. 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.400 Let's stay on there for a second, because if we 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.160 look at some stats, I only have stats for World 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.240 War One through Vietnam War, but just with the number 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.719 of human people that were conscripted to war during these 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.760 wars within the US. And this is coming from CNN 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.520 via the selective service, like their actual data. World War One, 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.360 which is nineteen seventeen to eighteen, two point eight million 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:41.319 people got conscripted. Two point eight million people got pulled 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.920 up in this, which is just crazy to think about. 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.120 But then World War Two in the US, ten point 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:53.440 one million people got conscripted. Ten million human beings got 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.560 pulled into this. And when we're talking about you know, 0:12:56.600 --> 0:13:00.400 why we fight, right, there's a pretty famous problem beaganda 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.960 film that the US government made called why We Fight 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.040 in a bunch of different parts, and we're actually going 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:06.840 to be using that for a video coming up shortly 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:12.000 for this show. But there's a very specific picture and 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.800 compelling picture painted for why we needed that number of 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:20.720 human beings to fight against Germany and then against Germany again, 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.920 and you know why the world was at stake? Right Then, 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.640 when you get to the Korean conflict, Ben and I'm 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.480 this is where we start to see that part matter 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.000 a little more. Is it are we really protecting the 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.280 world or a country or is this more ideological when 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.920 we're talking about you know, the country of Korea battling 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:46.000 amongst itself for ideological purposes, right, it's more ideological at 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.640 that point I think, I guess it is all the 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:48.120 way down. 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.040 But and then Vietnam really represents this, you know, public 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.480 perception of that sea change, where this ain't really about 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:55.880 us as it and I don't want to. 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.720 Go Yeah, I mean, that's that's part of why drafts 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:03.000 have always been controversial to one degree or another, especially when, 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.960 as we are saying, the overall public does not fully 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:12.160 support a conflict, and public support for conflicts history is proven. 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.160 There's an interesting correlation the better communication technology is with 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:21.360 the public, though more likely the public is to disagree 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.720 with the reasons for going to war, especially foreign interventions. 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.280 Right things are not happening on US soil. 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.200 Well, that was a big part of Vietnam too, because 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.200 there was more reporting on that. It was a lot 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.240 more transparent, you know. I mean, I'm sure that the 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.840 administration wasn't pleased about that to a certain degree, but 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.160 it was more that people really seeing what was going on, 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.320 and it made it a lot harder to hit them 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.680 with that propaganda piece because they were getting a more 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.280 realistic portrayal of what was actually going on on the ground, 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:52.160 what was actually at stake, and who was responsible for that. 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.720 Yeah, they were getting in media arrests, video footage. That 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:56.840 was the huge difference. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.080 And yet still the United States government was able to 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.680 conscript one and a half million people for the Korean 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:08.080 War and then one point nine million people for the 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:13.120 Vietnam War. And it's still unfathomable to me that that 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.000 number of human beings went through the system we're going 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.000 to be describing today and then had to just go 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.360 get on a bus, go get tested, and then head 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.120 on out to a conflict, you know, half the world away. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:31.560 Yeah, and again for Americans, Vietnam is probably the most 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:37.000 well represented instance of this controversy. We know during that 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.680 draft period, a lot of people sought ways to get out, 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.560 either as conscientious objectors I think this rule is malarchy, 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.480 or I think this war is malarchy, or they moved away. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.680 There's a great scene in the Phenomenal novel the things 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:55.520 they carried about people who contemplate going to Canada. It 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:57.680 was much easier to squeeze over the border back in 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.320 the seventies, or they would try to escape Mild Harry 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:06.600 Servis through embellishing certain medical conditions. There's the story of 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.640 I think it was Ted Nugent was accused Ted pardon 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:12.520 me if I'm off base here if I'm confusing you 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.600 with someone else. But the musician Ted Nugent was accused 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.280 of purposely crapping himself to get out of service. And 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.560 then of course you have things like embellishing medical conditions 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:23.440 like bone spurs. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.760 Yeah, and Ted Nugent of course also famously had cat 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:28.760 scratch fever, so that was also. 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:35.240 I don't I you don't think that. I don't know. Well, 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.000 the only reason I'm sitting here talking to you today 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:40.360 and you can see me right now, is because my 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.600 father got drafted to the Vietnam War. When he went 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.120 in and got tested, they said, oh no, you can't 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.520 because of this health thing. You need to come back. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.280 He got tested again, they passed him. So he went 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.240 out to a bus and as he went to get 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.080 on that bus, his name for some reason, we don't 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.200 know why, it was not on the clipboard as of 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.920 people that are to be taken for basic training. So 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.120 he got off and he didn't have to go to war, 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.040 and he was able to have children. So there you 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.040 go a lot of kind and. 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.080 I mean, like in terms of who we're gonna get 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.000 into all of that, like the people that aren't qualified 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.120 quote unquote once they do get called up, but even 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:19.960 just the whole getting on the bus and having to 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.480 go to be tested, Like when you think about it now, 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.280 it feels like something out of a dystopian sci fi situation, 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.760 you know, like being rounded up and forced to go 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.639 to some sort of like you know, facility, Like I 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:32.959 don't know. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.440 It's just the reason why I'm emphasizing this emergency lever, 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.520 Like why the draft and conscription is such an emergency 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.560 lever is because there they wanted people like my dad 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.320 who was very young, you know, just getting into college 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.119 and still in his teens at the time, about to 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.040 turn twenty I think, or a little No, he was 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.080 still in his teens, and he was a college student, 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.520 like a liberal arts college student. And what the hell 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:01.560 is he going to do even if he goes through 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:05.320 basic training. That guy doesn't have the whatever the warrior 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.399 spirit thing that Hegzith always likes to talk about. He 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.280 doesn't have that, and you're just gonna put him out 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.120 there on the front line somewhere because it's an emergency. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.320 It just seems it seems backwards. 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:16.520 In a lot of ways. 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:23.080 Yeah, it almost. It always brings up the dangerous sinister 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.840 implication of people being used as cannon father right in 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.920 shake and bake programs, and Vietnam obviously is the most 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:36.119 recent in American memory. The most recent example of the draft, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.960 which ended in nineteen seventy three, but before then it 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:45.080 was an even bigger conscription scandal during the Civil War. 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:49.439 This led to a bunch of very violent riots because 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:54.600 their Draft Act was in eighteen sixty three and it said, look, 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.479 if you are twenty years old or between twenty and 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.560 forty five years old, you have to register for the draft. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:06.119 But you only have to actually do this if you're poor, 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.959 because you can pay someone to show up in your place, 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.520 or if you have three hundred dollars, you can give 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:15.920 it to Uncle Sam and you don't have to do 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.520 anything after that. The problem was three hundred bucks might 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.320 not sound like a backbreaking amount of cash now, but 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:26.000 it was a huge amount of cheddar back in the day, 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:29.119 back in the eighteen hundreds, and so this three hundred 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.040 dollars price point by design was to help save the 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:37.040 children of the wealthy. They knew this option was far 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.359 out of reach for the majority of families for sure, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:42.600 so it became a war of the poor go which 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:48.280 most hairshot. Yeah, golden parachute. This, these are serious economic inequalities. 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:53.160 The most infamous backlash was the New York draft riots. 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.119 Over one hundred and nineteen people died in just three 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.919 days in July of eighteen sixty three, and most of 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.080 the people who were affected by this were impoverished Irish immigrants. 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:09.040 There was also a culture war at play. The powers 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.520 that be said, you know, Irish immigrants who are being targeted, 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.000 don't question the system. You should find a different minority 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:22.120 to hate, and we think that minority should be African Americans. 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.480 So rioters even burned orphanages. 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:29.800 To the ground. Yes, that's bad. Look bad, Look that's yeah, 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.200 you know right right, part's in the right place. Bad execution. 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.760 Yeah, Ben, I'm still thinking about that concept of you 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.639 could pay three hundred dollars and get out of it. 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.639 That to me is mind blowing, and I don't think 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.840 there's anything officially on the books today that's equivalent to that. Right, 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.200 you can't pay to get out of. 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:51.880 Well, not directly. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:53.080 In the early register. 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.600 You can pay somebody under the table to hook you 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.760 up with the right diagnosis, I imagine. 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:03.080 Right, Yeah, that's one way. You could also you could 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.680 also exercise a little bit of nepotism to get a 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:09.359 push domestic assignment. 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.560 Right, so it's like important to the war somehow. 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:17.080 Important to the war or necessitates you not being in 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:20.600 the war. So maybe you get a posh position in 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:25.280 a federal level domestic operation. 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:28.560 Right dude, yep, okay, okay, So there is something like that, 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:29.480 but just. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.719 It's all off the books. It's all yes, underhanded and 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.320 this is this, I gotta at least respect. 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:36.520 Or that they were right above board. 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:38.240 Pay us three hundred and you can you can. 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:40.520 Go I mean I was gonna say, or Noal, it 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.720 has to be absolutely official, like it has to be 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.919 some kind of big time official position. That is so 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:48.760 in the open as you're talking about, Ben, everybody just 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:51.280 goes okay, oh no, I definitely can't. 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.240 Go too important big defense. 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:57.440 Just seeing that three hundred dollars, the equivalent now is 0:21:57.480 --> 0:21:59.119