WEBVTT - How the U.S. Military Draft Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.760 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.439 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.759 So this is Stuff you should know. Military edition actually 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:25.840 more bureaucracy edition than anything else. Yeah, and I found this, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.640 uh for a bureaucratic episode. I found it way more 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.559 interesting than I thought I would. Those usually turn out 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:34.840 to be more interesting than you'd think. You know, Yeah, 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.320 I can't think of one that we've done bureaucracy in 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.920 the bureaucracy suite that wasn't like, this is surprisingly interesting. Yeah, 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.600 this is this is pretty good. Yeah, agreed. Because I 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.839 registered for the Selective Service, as did you, I assume, 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.960 oh yeah, unless you're you've been dodging all these years. 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.800 I finally made it, but I never really gave it 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.120 much thought because dudes like you and I in today's 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.400 modern era don't really you know. When I registered, I 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.280 was like, yeah, whatever, this will probably mean nothing, but 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.720 it's really interesting when you dig into it and what 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.600 it could have met or could mean. When I registered, 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.039 I was like wait, what what my what's going on here? Again? 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.800 And my dad was like just just do it. It's fine. 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.000 You'll get in trouble if you don't. I was like, Oh, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:19.800 I don't want to get in trouble. Was your dad 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.080 in the military. Yeah, he was their force during Vietnam, 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:30.160 right before Vietnam, because my dad did not go to Vietnam, 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.120 and I think I always felt weird about it. He 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:33.959 would never talk to me about that, but that's the 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.920 sense that I got. Did you grow up in Canada 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.080 for like the first part of your life or anything. No, 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.280 but he was and as you'll find out throughout the 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.920 course of this episode about the various deferments and exceptions 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:50.760 and things, he was a lone breadwinner for a family 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:57.200 of one and then two and eventually three in college 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.240 studying to be a teacher, so he had a lot 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.560 of he checked a lot of boxes that will get 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.120 you out of the war. Right, Well, they probably talked 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.160 him out of there, like, buddy, your life's hard enough 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:10.760 as it is. Yeah, maybe that that would be a 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:15.160 hardship deferment. Right. Well, I guess it depends, because teachers 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.880 were something, as we'll learn later in the show, we're 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:23.280 very very much valued. Oh yeah, and if you were 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.760 in college and if you were the bread winner of 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.639 a family, so he had a he had a few 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:29.920 things going in his favor. I guess if you're looking 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.200 to not go to war, Yeah, all he had to 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:36.360 be was a non US citizen living in the United States, 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.040 from a country with a treaty with the US, who 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.640 was also morally opposed to the war, and with a 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.080 criminal record. That'd be about it. He might have been 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:45.680 a little too old, actually too now that I think 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.320 about it. I mean he could have been if he 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.280 was in grad was at grad school. I think he 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.000 was in grad school. Yeah, he might have been, because 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.400 I think it was back then we're talking now. I'm 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.600 I think it was eighteen to twenty five, is what 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.680 it was. Yeah, so yeah, he could have been beyond that. Yeah, 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:04.160 then all those boxes were checked. I think he probably was. 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.639 So in case you guys didn't pick up on this yet, 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.080 we're talking about the draft. That's what it's called in America. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.320 But America's far from the only country that's ever had 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.480 a draft. It's actually pretty old concept um dating back 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.600 as far I think I've seen as far back is 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.000 like the second century BC China. Um. I think the 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.040 king dynasty or ging. How do you pronounce it with 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.120 the q. I think I would have looked that up. 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.919 I think it's how do you spell it jing? Q 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:38.640 q i n g q i n g, Well the jing, 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:43.680 I think it's jing. I think so anyway, one of 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.240 the dynasty's towards the second century BC, China had conscription, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.560 and it's I think just about every civilization UM with 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.080 a military said oh, that's a pretty good idea, let's 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.760 try that. So basically everybody's tried it from time to time, 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.320 and the US has had drafts multiple times, some a war, 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.000 but the North and the South had drafts. Um in 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.680 the I think the War of eighteen twelve, there's even one. Um, 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.120 the First World War there's a draft. Second World War 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.760 there's a draft. And then most recently, the draft was 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:18.880 in Vietnam from nineteen sixty one to nineteen seventy three. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.720 I think, right, yeah, and we'll get to the h 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.560 Did you read that New York Times article that I sent? 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:27.440 Oh boy, that was a good one. Well, we'll get 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:28.840 to the ins and outs a little bit at the 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:33.320 end with that article. But um, prior to Vietnam, the 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:38.440 draft had generally been a sort of roundly accepted kind 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.560 of uh good thing to most people. So it really 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.560 wasn't until Vietnam where we found ourselves with a lot 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.400 of different social forces meeting up with the war that 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:51.880 a lot of people didn't believe in. Is where we 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:56.080 had a sort of our first big backlash against the 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.000 idea of a draft. That was where I I mean, 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:03.240 that's if the wards just being utterly unpopular almost across 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.480 the board, is is where I saw was the big 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.719 reason why, um, the resistance to the draft first began 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.160 because of Vietnam. Up to that point, wars were generally 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:18.360 popular among the majority of Americans. Yeah, and we also 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:24.039 need to shout out one Genghis Khan or Chenghis or 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:29.880 Chengis Kane because I think we mentioned in that episode 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.760 that he he used to draft, right kind of. I 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.880 think that was more like a join me or die 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.359 kind of thing, which I guess I guess that qualifies 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.679 as conscription. Well in America's join me or go to jail. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.520 So yeah, it's close. Yeah, it's it's close. So yeah, 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.040 you're right, Um, he definitely had that. And he's actually 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:52.080 the tie that binds this episode and the next one too, Uh, 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.880 the one on the Pony Express because he had a 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:59.239 fast male service on horseback. Remember, Yeah, And it's probably 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.799 not fair to say that he had a draft, because 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.800 you're right. It was more just like come aboard or 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.680 i'll have your head, right, But I did want to 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.040 mention that he There was another movie that we missed. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.120 There was a movie not too long ago called Mongol. Oh. Yes, 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.800 supposedly it was like a good one with a legitimately 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.720 good actor in there. Yeah, it was a weird They 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.200 covered it on the Friendly Fire Movie podcast that I 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.280 listened to, and it's, um, supposedly pretty good. I want 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.600 to check it out. It was like a weird like 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:33.320 a Russian slash Kazakhstani production that did feature Asian actors, 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.600 only produced by Baratt. I don't know, but it was 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.039 supposed to be pretty good. I'll check it out. Yeah, 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.520 I don't want to see it too. Is it on 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.760 Netflix or Prime? I don't know about that. Oh, by 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.920 the way, Chuck, I feel so missed. Happy Prime Day? 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.520 Is it Prime Day? Oh? Of course it's a Prime Day. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.039 How could you not? And already bought up my stuff? 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.279 That was some buzz marketing of all time. So let's 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:01.080 talk about this draft. Okay, Sure, and well, I think 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.520 we'll hold like the pros and cons debate for later. Off, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.040 let's just talk about what the draft is in America. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.320 How about that, because I think it bears a pretty 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.640 strong resemblance to drafts in other countries. Yeah. So in 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.720 the United States, in our military, now this this article 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.040 is a little outdated, but um, I believe for this year, 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:23.120 our budget is about one point three one million active 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:28.240 duty personnel and about eight hundred and fifteen thousand reservists. Uh, 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:32.760 And this is what our volunteer military force looks like. 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.040 But in certain times, uh, we have a draft. They 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.720 also call it conscription. And that's when we feel like 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.880 and you know, there's debate on whether or not this 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.840 will ever happen again, but that's when the President and 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:51.040 Congress feels like we need to call up people involuntarily 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:56.320 because we need more bodies. Yeah, the standing volunteer force 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.200 that we have right now is considered more than enough 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:05.920 for or at least enough for the current peacetime. Um. Yeah, 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.040 if you take if you take the endless wars that 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.400 aren't technically wars because Congress never declared war out of 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.240 the equation that we're in peacetime right, and so these 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.160 these guys, especially with our advancing and I use guys 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.320 in the gender neutral sense, um, especially with the advancing 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.920 technology that's being used in the military. Now, Um, that's 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.720 actually pretty healthy amount of active duty people. But yes, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.319 if there were something that happened, say another World war 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.679 or something, there's there's a pretty good chance that a 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.400 draft is going to get started pretty quickly. And um 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.319 for that to happen, the government would say, okay, selective 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.920 service system, do your thing, and the selective service system 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.480 would kick in action. And that this is what I 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.560 did not know, Chuck. Jimmy Carter is the one who 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.520 activated the selective service system. Did you know that, oh, 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.679 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan Because the s draft was 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.000 in nineteen seventy three, uh, and it was just done. 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.640 And then in nineteen eighty when the Afghani or when 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:12.040 the um the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Carter was really on 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.560 edge about that, and in ninety one he just basically 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.000 activated the selective service system. And that's what you were 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.440 talking about earlier, where where you're eighteen or the first 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.560 time you're eligible between the ages of eighteen and twenty five, 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:27.920 you go to your post office, you go to your 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.480 government website, you go there's several places you can go, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.400 and you basically fell out a card saying I am 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.800 an eighteen year old American citizen or a resident alien 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.800 or any number of things. Um, and it's specifically a man, 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.760 and here's my info. Give me a call if you 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:51.240 guys ever run into any trouble. Yeah, and so, uh, 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.040 the s S S the Selective Service System is who 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:58.960 was in charge of basically operating and and plugging in 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.600 the draft and overseeing it if it ever gets reinstated, 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.080 right right, So you they have really ultimately this this 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:08.720 article does a good job of pointing this out. The 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.920 Selective Service System is basically just a system of names 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:19.480 and addresses kept on file of all um American men 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:24.240 eligible to be drafted. So basically between the age of 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:29.040 eighteen and twenty five. Yeah, so you mentioned women. Um, 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.480 about five or six years ago there was the repeal 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.680 of the ground combat exclusion and they've can since then 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.800 have been working on basically opening up. Uh. I don't 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.400 know about all jobs, but I think most or maybe 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:45.119 all jobs two women as well as men in the military. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.920 But you still despite that, they have not made the 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.000 change where women have to register with SSS. Yeah, it 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.960 came like pretty close in committee I think last year, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.360 and it didn't make it out of committee, but um, 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.840 it showed a lot of resolve to that's probably going 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:05.800 to change in the next couple of years, I would guess, 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.200 especially now that women are in combat roles in the military. 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.959 There's that was traditionally the excuse for why they were 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.480 not eligible for selective service. Um. But now that they're 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.320 doing combat roles in the volunteer Army or the volunteer military, 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.000 then it just makes sense that they would be eligible 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.600 for the draft too. Yeah. And right now I'm looking 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:31.640 at the chart. Uh, this print out here has got 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.760 one to three, four or five, six, seven, eight categories 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.360 where you do not need to. Uh. I was about 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:43.800 to say, turn yourself in. It's a Fredian slip where 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:45.600 you don't have to register. So if you remember the 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.080 Armed Forces on active duty, obviously you don't need to. 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.760 If you're a cadet and midshipment at service academies or 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.280 the Coast Guard Academy, you do not need to. If 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.600 you're a student and the officer Procurement program at the 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:02.599 Citadel North Georgia College and Stay University, Norwich, Virginia, v 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.960 m I, Texas A and M Virginia Polytech in State University. 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.600 You don't have to. Uh, let me see here under 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:16.760 immigrants lawful nonimmigrants on current non immigrant visas. If you're 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.360 a seasonal agricultural worker on an H two A visa, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:25.160 you don't have to. If you're incarcerated or hospitalized or institutionalized, 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:30.160 you do not need to under handicapped physically or mentally. Uh. 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:34.680 You don't need to if you're continually confined to a residence, 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.840 hospital or institution, but you do have to if you 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.719 were able to function in public with or without assistance. 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:47.720 And then the newest, the latest and greatest transgender people category. 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.880 If you're an individual who are born female and have 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.640 changed to male, you do not have to. But if 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.560 you're born male and change your gender to female, you 0:12:56.600 --> 0:13:00.920 do have to. Uh. So that's pretty much flies in 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:05.560 the face of trans that Yeah. Wow, okay, I'm not 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.200 surprised by that, but that's that seems a little putsy 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:13.000 dems the rules right now. Yeah, So, one of the 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.280 things that stuck out to me, Chuck, was that, um, 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:21.000 if you are a a citizen of another country living 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.640 in the United States, you have to register. If you're 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.800 a male UM you have to register for this UM 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.120 so for selective service. But if your country has a 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.959 treaty with the US that says, if you guys ever 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.240 do the draft or whatever, we don't want our people 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.480 sucked into that. Uh, the U s will honor that. 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.360 You still have to go UM register. But then when 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.200 they draft you, you can you get an exemption. But 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.360 if you do get that exemption, you can never be 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.080 a citizen of the United States. And if you ever 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.440 leave the country, you might have trouble getting back in. 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.640 And it is how this Elective Service puts it, which 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.280 I would say that means you will definitely have trouble 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.560 getting back in probably, so you know, uh, and you 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.000 said eighteen to twenty five is the age where you 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:09.080 have to register within thirty days of reaching eligibility. So 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.040 in the case of your eighteenth birthday, within thirty days 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.719 of that, or let's say you're in like one of 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.320 the exclusions, like you're in military school, but you drop out, 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.520 but you're still eighteen to twenty five, then it's when 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:26.840 within thirty days of that dropout date, right, and then yeah, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.520 whether it's eighteen thirty days of your eighteenth birthday or 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.960 thirty days of the first time you become eligible, up 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.440 to your twenty six birthday. Correct. And then if you 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.360 just say I don't feel like going today and you 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:43.280 keep putting it off for you know, seven seven years um, 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.800 when you get to be twenty six along the way, 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.160 you can do it late and they'll say, hey, thanks 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:51.760 for coming in. We're going to forgive this. If you 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:53.880 wait until after your twenty six and you never get 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.240 around to doing it, like as it stands on the books, 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.040 you can be prosecuted for up to five years in 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:04.400 prison in a quarter of a million dollar fine. You 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.840 can also get that same penalty if you encourage someone 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.360 not to sign up for selective service, But apparently they 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.040 are not very big on prosecuting that kind of stuff, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.800 and instead what they tend to do is they withhold 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:23.800 um federal job opportunities, some state job opportunities, federal student 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:28.560 aid for college, federal work training program. If you're a 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.920 defense contract or any kind of contractor you need a 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.880 security clearance, you can kiss that goodbye. So there's stuff 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.880 they can do short of finding you two fifty thousand 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.480 dollars of putting um in jail for five years. Um, 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.840 but there are penalties for just not ever filling out 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.000 this little card. Yeah, and I read, uh, and especially 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.480 in that Times article that even during the Vietnam War, 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:55.000 like famous cases aside, like let's say, you know, Muhammad Ali, 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.480 which makes a lot of news, like, they didn't really 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.840 want pool that didn't like he didn't have to be 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.400 all gung ho, but they didn't want people that were 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.240 just miserable about the whole thing. Well, yeah, I saw 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.280 that that was one of the when well we'll talk 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.200 about it later, but like that, you know, they there's 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.160 like that that wouldn't make a good soldier. It wouldn't 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:19.400 serve anyone. So generally they wanted people who are at 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:21.960 least like, all right, well I'll do this all the 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.680 way up to like sign me up, I want to kill. Right. 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.960 Did we take a break? Yeah, let's I think that's 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.360 our cue when I say I want to kill. All right, 0:16:31.400 --> 0:17:03.520 we'll be right back after this, Okay, So let's say that. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.920 Um that there. I saw that the head of Selective 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.399 Service said basically it would take a Martian invasion to 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:15.920 activate the draft. Again, I think it's how she put it. So, um, 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.040 if that happened, if we were invaded by Martians and 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.119 the draft did start. One of the things that carter 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:27.080 Um set up in by activating the Selective Service was 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:32.920 to um, it's basically this government bureaucracy that's just waiting 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:35.920 to spring into action, and it's kind of like kept 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.000 on ice. There's a hundred people working at this agency. 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.479 They got about twenty three million dollars a year in funding, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.520 and um, they just keep it at at a ready state, 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.239 but it's not actually doing what it's designed to do. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.200 It's just taking in information, names, addresses, all that stuff, 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.960 and then um, but if it were ever activated, it 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.080 would kind of like it would be like one of 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.040 those little dinosaur sponges. You put water on it and 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.080 it grows into a big dinosaur sponge. That's basically what 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.680 would happen with the S S S. Yeah, so they would, 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.040 like our article points out, they would kick into what 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:13.719 you would call draft mode and they would conducted national 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.760 draft lottery. And you know, back in the Vietnam era, 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:21.280 this was a this is a dicey proposition to watch 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:27.040 on television what looks like a money lottery. You know, 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.560 picking numbers, and this is how it how it goes. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.920 It's developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:38.040 and I assume this is how it would still go today. Right, Yeah, 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:40.760 this is the current incarnation of the s s S. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.119 Al Right, so computer is going to print out all 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.800 the dates in the current year in random mortar. Put 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.760 those dates and little little capsules. So interesting how they 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.400 do this. They really look like more like ping pong 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:55.679 balls to me. I know, I'm saying, it looks like 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.960 you could be a winner, right, except you're not. But 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.040 who calls it a cap soul? I don't know whoever, 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:08.840 Tom Harris, he's old school. Yeah, I guess he's a weirdo. 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.920 Maybe he's never played ping pong. Uh. Then the computer 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.800 prints out one through three, six for each day of 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.240 the year in random mortar, puts those in ping pong balls. 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:24.000 The captive souls containing dates are loaded into one drum. 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.880 The others are loaded into another drum. They spend that thing. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.400 They spend the big wheel. I think it's puffed by air. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.880 Oh is it? I think so? I was just trying 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:35.720 to make a little more like I said, twenty three 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.280 million in funding a year, right, they can afford the 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.040 air puff. They're being inspected and observed this whole time 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.720 to make sure everything's going as planned. And then what 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:50.920 happens on TV. Okay, so the official who's running the thing, 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:53.240 and again yeah, they have like they have TV there 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.439 to make sure that this is documented and above the 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.680 boards and all that stuff. And when the official pulls 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:02.760 out the ball or the capsule i'm sorry from one 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:06.480 machine and then a capsule from another machine, and they 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:11.520 read them out laud. So for example, if the number 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.399 from the one machine with all the dates of the 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:17.440 year in it says April, and the other the other 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:21.720 machine has UM three hundred and sixty five or sixty six. 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.159 If it's a leap year, and that says number forty two, 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:29.280 then that means that every male who is eligible for 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.320 the draft that turns twenty on April twenty two of 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.399 that year will be in the forties second group to 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.119 receive their draft notices. Yeah, they start I guess the 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:43.480 ideal age that they feel as fair as twenty years old, right, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.240 So that's where they start with the draft, because again 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.679 remember it's between eighteen and twenty five you're eligible. But 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:51.920 they yeah, they start with the twenty year olds, and 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:54.600 then they do this so over and over again, for 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.160 all three hundred and sixty five or sixty six days 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.480 of the year. They pair a date of that year 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:04.240 with a number, and that's the people whose twentieth birthday 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.800 falls on that year are the ones who get that number. 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:13.160 They're in that number group. So if January was number one, 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.280 than anybody born on January would be the first to 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.480 get the draft notices. And when they're doing this, they're there. 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:25.480 They're probably calling up enough people that multiple groups, say 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.320 groups one through a hundred and fifty are all going 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.240 to get draft notices right out of the gate. But 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.199 then as they like, Congress and the President asked for 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.160 a specific number of troops, and then once they reach 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.840 that number, the draft notices stopped getting sent out. And 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:44.080 then if they say, well, we need more people, they'll 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.080 start going back to the um. The sequence of call 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.480 is what it's called uh. And then they go to 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:50.879 the next group, in the next group, of the next 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.639 group until they keep fulfilling these numbers, and then when 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:55.520 they run out of twenty year olds, then they go 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:57.840 to other age groups. Yeah, they move up from that 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.439 point to one, and you know, let's just say they 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.680 keep needing people, it would go twenty one through. Then 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:06.760 if they run out of twenty five year olds, A, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.000 that means we're in big trouble as a country. The 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:13.640 martians are winning, then they hop back to age nineteen, 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.239 and then if the most dire circumstances comes around, then 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:23.520 they hop back finally to eighteen year olds. Yes, so 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:28.800 that's that's eighteen to twenty five year olds. Yeah, have 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:31.200 just been gone through in the military basically is which 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:33.520 has happened If they go get down to the eighteen 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:38.760 year olds. Yeah, So then if your name is called, uh, 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.359 they are you were sent to a or your report 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:47.280 I guess to a regional military entrance processing station. And 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.040 I'm sure they call it something different, like they have 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:55.840 some cute short name for it, REMS. And I'll bet 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:59.240 this one is a REMPS. I'll bet it's REMPS. You 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.439 think maybe you know my brother in law's and the Marines, 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:06.560 And it's astounding how many uh what are those called 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:11.400 not contractions but acronym acronyms for everything. It's unbelievable. They 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.520 hate saying whole words of the military. Well, it's like 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.240 another language. And then when he's talking to me, he'll 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:20.520 say the acronym and then the real thing, but he just, 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.200 you know, he can't help but say the acronym. Well sure, 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:25.160 you know, do you ever point out, like how much 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:27.879 time he just wasted saying both, Yeah, I do that 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:31.399 all the time. He loves it, sir. Uh. So then 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:36.520