# In the event of a draft **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-event-of-a-draft/57587 "2001-03-11T23:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sirkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@sirkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirkle)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-event-of-a-draft/57587/1 "2001-03-11T23:52:55Z")
OK, my generation really hasn’t had much to deal with a draft, but my previous question got me to thinking. In the event that there is a draft, how do they decide which branch of service people are put into? Is it just where ever they are needed? ---
**Author:** ![fatherjohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@fatherjohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatherjohn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-event-of-a-draft/57587/2 "2001-03-12T01:00:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sirkle \* > \*\*OK, my generation really hasn’t had much to deal with a draft, but my previous question got me to thinking. In the event that there is a draft, how do they decide which branch of service people are put into? Is it just where ever they are needed? \*\* Well, if you’re from a wealthy/privileged family, you have strings pulled and you get put in the coast guard, the national guard, a desk job, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-event-of-a-draft/57587/3 "2001-03-12T05:02:21Z")
In Vietnam, it looks like they went where they were needed. Which happened to be the Army. From [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/the.draft/:](http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/the.draft/:) > [@](#): > > Draftees stood only a 38 percent chance of serving in Vietnam. Soldiers who belonged to that 38 percent, however, were statistically more likely to die in combat than soldiers who volunteered – principally because **the overwhelming majority of draftees sent to Vietnam were a part of the U.S. Army ground forces** that did much of the fighting. Also, if you look at this page: [http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwc8.htm](http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwc8.htm), you can see that there were **zero** casualties among the draftees to the Navy and Air Force during Vietnam. And since there were quite a few casualties among the volunteers in those services, that implies they had virtually no draftees period. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-event-of-a-draft/57587/4 "2001-03-12T15:25:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*Also, if you look at this page: [http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwc8.htm](http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwc8.htm), you can see that there were **zero** casualties among the draftees to the Navy and Air Force during Vietnam. And since there were quite a few casualties among the volunteers in those services, that implies they had virtually no draftees period. \*\* Well, it pretty much says virtually all draftees went into the Army during Vietnam: > [@](#): > > \*\* > Of course, the Marine, Navy & Air Corps enlisted personnel were, with the exception of a small percentage of USMC, all volunteer\*\* Actually I am surprised that the Marines took any draftees - I had supposed they were all volunteer. Draftees were unnecessary for the Army and Air Force, because the threat of being drafted into the Army induced many people to volunteer for the safer branches. Also if you volunteered for the Army, you might have some option to chose a relatively safe specialty. During Vietnam, many people opted to volunteer even though the enlistment was for three years rather than two, just in order to have more control over their fate.