Army draft and US citizenship?

J

jimmyLenny

New Member
Hi,

I had a chat with my relatives overseas about my decision to become a US Citizen. They are worried about the current political situation in the world. They basically told me to think twice about becoming a citizen, because then I could be easily drafted into the army. Is it correct? How big is the risk if I can ask this way?

1) I am about 30 year old, would they still call me in?

2) What happens if I live overseas as a USC and then war erupts?
 
There is currently no draft in the US. There hasn't been a draft since 1973. There hasn't been much political support for a draft in recent years, as a volunteer military is more effective and has been sufficient.

You ask about how a draft will work if they have one in the future (who is drafted, what ages, how are the people selected, etc.). The answer is, Who knows? Since there isn't one now, it's hard to speculate what are the workings of one in the future. They will have to pass a new law to start a draft again, and at that time, they will decide how the draft works; it doesn't necessarily have to work like past drafts.

There is something called the Selective Service System where all males between 18 and 26 who are US citizens or immigrants (legal or not) have to register. The idea is to have a list of names and addresses of people so that if they start a draft, they will be able to select people. As an immigrant in the US, if you are male, you must have been required to register. There is no difference between permanent resident and US citizen with respect to Selective Service registration. Selective Service registration is not a draft, and if hypothetically there is a draft in the future, the conditions for drafting people do not have to be the same as Selective Service registration requirements.
 
newacct: Thank you for your reply. I am basically weighting the pros & cons of US citizenship, seems like I already fall into the same category as US citizens being LPR. History repeats, but I am still hoping there won't be a war.

What about my second question? What do you think it will happen if one moves to overseas, is US citizen, and was begins? I can only imagine/guess the government would call you back, ...
 
why are you worrying about something that hasn't been law for over 40 years?

the fact is you won't be drafted.

if however, and it's a really big IF they changed the law and put a draft back into affect, this would require a major change in the politics of Washington to get the democrats and republicans to agree, however, sure WWIII would cause that to happen, but let's say on the remote chance it does happen, i.e. WWIII... not likely to happen irrespective of todays situation - everyone has been worrying about WWIII with every major skirmish since WWII, i.e. Korean War, Vietnam War, Israel-Egypt-Syria, Falklands, Gulf War etc. etc. and it hasn't happened.

However, suppose it does, they draft between the ages of 18-25... you are well past that.

For the military to require ages beyond that the US would have to be invaded and our armed services severely depleted... i.e. what Germany had to do in WWII near the end of the war... so for you to be drafted, which you can't be now because it's not the law, would be more remote than you winning the lottery.

So go buy a lottery ticket and when you win the big one, then worry about being drafted.
 
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