Thibaudborny t1_isfro4z wrote on October 15, 2022 at 5:18 PM

Reply to comment by greviousmisadventure in Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday! by AutoModerator

Because they were running short of volunteers… Initially a lot of people volunteered to ‘fight commies’ & ‘liberate Vietnam’, yet that fiction soon was shown for what it was and it became harder to find recruits, hence the draft.

platitood t1_isfytca wrote on October 15, 2022 at 6:08 PM

The draft was in effect from 1940 to 1973.

Thibaudborny t1_isg29vf wrote on October 15, 2022 at 6:32 PM

Yes, but when you have enough volunteers you don’t need to enforce it. The problem was the rapid escalation.

platitood t1_isgj7xe wrote on October 15, 2022 at 8:33 PM

Everything you are saying about Vietnam is true, but I feel like you are mischaracterizing the timing of draft and its enforcement. Elvis Presley was famously drafted during peacetime. The idea that we could maintain a fully staffed military with volunteers only, wasn’t seriously considered during this era.

What Vietnam did was contribute to killing the draft, although mandatory registration for selective service continued.

https://www.sss.gov/history-and-records/induction-statistics/

Notice that the pattern is pretty much, more people for war, fewer people for peacetime, and then it tapers off to the end of 1973, because Vietnam and the ensuing backlash and protest, exposed all of the worst problems with the draft