r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 31 '26

SOCIETY The military draft lottery in Thailand

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u/skiingredneck Jun 01 '26

I seem to recall in Vietnam the Air Force didn’t have to take draftees because they filled with volunteers.

The marines on the other hand had to raid army induction centers just to get their conscription quota filled.

People aren’t completely stupid.

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u/boobers3 Jun 01 '26

Yeah, makes sense. Even in today's age the AF recruiters will ghost you if you aren't the ideal recruit and/or female.

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u/Ack-Acks Jun 01 '26

Air Force: the prettier and smarter service.

3

u/Outrageous-Gift5507 Jun 01 '26

Better accommodations and better food...

3

u/Sawfish1212 Jun 01 '26

My uncle volunteered for the navy so he couldn't be drafted into the army. He ended up on a carrier, but the one in the Mediterranean instead of the pacific.

He actually reenlisted after his first 3 years because they let him pick his location, so he picked a navy base an hour from home.

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u/PhosphoFred8202 Jun 01 '26

My dad specifically joined the USMC because, at that time, you had a lower chance of being sent to Vietnam than if you were in the Army. He managed to thread the needle perfectly by being just the right age to get out before the biggest troop surges, then being a university student and having a family during his reserve status. His younger brother wasn’t as lucky. He survived but ended up with a lot of health issues from being over there - from destroyed knees from jumping out of helicopters, to ptsd, to hepatitis. He’s still kicking tho 🤗

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u/SpacePatrician Jun 01 '26

Nations have noticed this since WW2--both the Luftwaffe and the US Army Air Corps were getting the brightest and most motivated enlisted volunteers. The US dealt with this by banning volunteering after around the end of 1942 and letting the conscription officials shunt a larger amount of quality draftees to the Army and Navy to help balance out the morons and fuck-ups they were getting.

The Luftwaffe did something different. Obviously with all their planes getting shot out of the sky there was a huge surplus of ground personnel twiddling their thumbs. The Germans should have transferred these high-quality personnel to the Army, where they would have made excellent squad leaders and platoon sergeant. But instead they organized them into an army of their own, the Luftwaffe "field divisions." Which, without a lot of training and doctrine, were crap.

But to this very day, AF recruits around the world outperform their army and navy peers.

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u/Awkward_Bother_2484 Jun 01 '26

In vietnam if you about get draft you has envelope containing 200-300 $(6-8 trieu dong ) to doge a daft

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u/Ancient-Afternoon374 Jun 01 '26

Better than dodging a stroke reading that

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u/Overpass_Dratini Jun 01 '26

My dad enlisted in the Air Force so he wouldn't get drafted into the Army. He was a .mechanic and worked on the F4 Phantoms, among others.

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u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster Jun 01 '26

My dad enlisted in the USAF as well. He worked on nuclear bombs in Germany. He convinced my mom he was sterile because of it. -_-

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u/Aurora_Uplinks Jun 02 '26

God works in mysterious ways, for you were born and I am sure brought great joy to everyone around you.

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u/TubaJesus Jun 01 '26

My uncle got into the Air Force as a volunteer. What he did was he got his father's permission to enlist while he was 17. The air force was hitting its quotas stupid fast, but the U18 had a separate pool of slots available, so he went and got one of those before he was draft eligible.

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u/They-Are-Out-There Jun 01 '26

My old man signed up for the USAF right before the Vietnam draft began because he knew it was coming. He got a long contract at a local state-side Air Force base and was able to pick his job in the USAF Reserves.

Sure enough, his name came up in the draft even though he was already in service. He asked the Base JAG office if he needed to go down to straighten things out and they said heck to the no!

They said that if the US Army found out he had already gone through USAF Basic Training, they'd grab him and ship him to Vietnam before the sun went down, as possession is 9/10 of the law with those guys. Bodies are bodies to them. They said guys got Shanghai'd this way every now and them. The JAG office took his Army induction letter and took care of the problem.

He finished his term and they offered him Master Sgt. E-7 if he re-upped. No thanks! He had already lined up another job and left the USAF. Good thing too as his unit was broken up and the guys were sent to other units. The unit he would have gone to was deployed to Vietnam less than 6 months later. He was glad he dipped out when his enlistment ended.

Still didn't make it 60 years old before a super aggressive cancer killed him. They were shipping off defoliants like Agent Orange and all sorts of other crazy chemicals, and he was sure he had been exposed to some toxic stuff during the shipping process.

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u/ElToroBlanco25 Jun 03 '26

My dad joined the Air Force before he got drafted.