# Could I eat my way out of the draft?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 24, 2007, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221 "2007-01-24T09:33:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/1 "2007-01-24T09:33:48Z")
Inspired by the man who was ruled too obese to be hanged, I wonder whether I could avoid any draft by eating my way be being very obese? Obviosly I might need an initial deferment to give myself time to prepare. Or would they take me anyway to make me loose weight?
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/2 "2007-01-24T10:13:18Z")
I would think it would be far easier to starve yourself than to eat to the point of obesity, from a practical standpoint.
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### Author:  [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/3 "2007-01-24T10:40:40Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
I would think it would be far easier to starve yourself than to eat to the point of obesity, from a practical standpoint.
[/QUOTE]
I guess that depends on your starting point. This does raise a good question, though. What is the cut off for allowing overweight people in the military? Could you prolong your life by being too fat to be killed in a war?
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### Author:  [@abel29a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel29a)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/4 "2007-01-24T14:00:03Z")
I have no idea how the US Military regulates this, but I was a good 120 KG when I joined the Norwegian Army back in the day (We still have conscription), and there were plenty of guys at boot camp who dwarfed me. 🙂
In a time of war I would think they would be even more lenient with standards, so I would think you’d have to be extremely overweight for this to help. Boot Camp is the best diet in the world, after all. (I myself lost 20 KG during the first three weeks, 35 KG over three months.)
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### Author:  [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/5 "2007-01-24T14:12:28Z")
A government might well compel the physically unfit into some other form of national service – teaching literacy, tutoring underprivileged students, picking up trash along roadways…
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### Author:  [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/6 "2007-01-24T15:01:43Z")
[QUOTE=scm1001]
Inspired by the man who was ruled too obese to be hanged SNIP
[/QUOTE]
How fat of a bastard must you be to be unhangable?
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/7 "2007-01-24T15:02:50Z")
This guy tried to eat his way out of having to leave home. You might ask him. [http://sjl-static1.sjl.youtube.com/vi/PplkApcuBOE/2.jpg](http://sjl-static1.sjl.youtube.com/vi/PplkApcuBOE/2.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/8 "2007-01-24T17:25:55Z")
Of course, we don’t have a draft, and if the draft were reinstated there’s no telling what sort of physical/medical/psych deferements would be allowable. It would all be new legislation. Just because the draft worked a particular way back in Vietnam or WWII or the Civil War doesn’t mean we’d do things exactly the same way.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/9 "2007-01-24T18:14:29Z")
I would think they’d just work it off you in basic training…
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/10 "2007-01-24T18:31:04Z")
Back in the days of the Vietnam draft I remember guys who were rejected for service because they were too fat. I don’t remember any who deliberately got that way for that purpose. I DO remember a couple who starved themselves into being underweight. IIRC, a problem was that if the medical examiners suspected that you were doing that, they could ask to examine you again six months later.
Paregoric and tomato juice, man …
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### Author:  [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/11 "2007-01-24T18:35:36Z")
I knew of a person who actually did eat his way out of the draft during the early '70’s. He was a dormitory friend who was an activist.
The guy literally ate his way over the military limit. But it wasn’t one weigh-in and it’s over. He had to go back to the board regularly (I forget if it was once a year or once every six months) and get weighed. He was told that this would continue until he reached 35.
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/12 "2007-01-24T19:06:04Z")
Just noting that this question was right above the one asking about (admitted) gays being allowed in ROTC. And noting that it bears on the problem posed in the OP.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/13 "2007-01-24T19:25:03Z")
slight hijack: Reminds me of the story my parents told me about a guy they knew who wanted desperately to avoid being drafted. So he took some kind of drug known to raise one’s blood pressure to unacceptable levels. The army took him anyway. Years later a medic speculated how he’d ever been able to get in, his blood pressure was so low. Maybe an UL.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/14 "2007-01-24T19:27:04Z")
[QUOTE=The Scrivener]
A government might well compel the physically unfit into some other form of national service – teaching literacy, tutoring underprivileged students, picking up trash along roadways…
[/QUOTE]
None of which, in my experience, involve getting shot at or car-bombed. Depending on exactly **why** the OP wants to avoid the hypothetical draft, it might still work out.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/15 "2007-01-24T19:30:56Z")
Couldn’t you just claim to be gay instead? I thought that was an inmediate out.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/16 "2007-01-24T20:07:54Z")
That’s what Arlo Guthrie suggested in “Alice’s Restaurant,” after all.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/17 "2007-01-24T20:35:46Z")
As I said earlier, congress would have to specify exactly what would get you defered.
And I’ll bet five dollars that if we ever reinstate the draft (which we won’t) the gays are gonna get drafted too. Claiming to be gay won’t get you a ticket home any more.
Really, all these stories are about what did happen or what would have happened during previous drafts. Things that got you defered during the Vietnam war were different than what got you deferred in WWII, which was different than WWI, which was different than the Civil War. So stories about how Great-great-great grandad avoided the draft during the Civil War by hiring an Irish immigrant to be his replacement, or because he was black, might be interesting but they won’t tell us what will get you defered in tomorrow’s hypothetical draft.
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### Author:  [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/18 "2007-01-24T21:44:24Z")
Ah, the food-for-freedom program.
It’s a great deal. You’ll be a draft dodger and a fat tub. That’ll make you a devil with the ladies.
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/19 "2007-01-24T21:47:46Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC]
Couldn’t you just claim to be gay instead? I thought that was an inmediate out.
[/QUOTE]
Isn’t there some urban myth about an army recruitment officer who would respond to this by drowning trou and saying, “Prove it!”?
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-eat-my-way-out-of-the-draft/389221/20 "2007-01-24T22:09:44Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
Isn’t there some urban myth about an army recruitment officer who would respond to this by drowning trou and saying, “Prove it!”?
[/QUOTE]
And, regardless of how personally distasteful you might find it, if he said this, wouldn’t you almost HAVE to bend him over his desk and bugger a man for the first time in your life? Just for the story?
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