# U.S. Residents Drafted During Vietnam War?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 26, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311 "2001-11-26T17:08:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![robo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@robo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311/1 "2001-11-26T17:08:26Z")

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I had the impression that my brother who was only a U.S. resident (not a U.S. citizen) at the time was liable for the draft during the Vietnam era. So, was the U.S. drafting non-citizens?

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**Author:** ![kpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kpm)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311/2 "2001-11-26T17:23:59Z")

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I know that legal residents can join the military now so I guess that was the case back then too. And if you can join it would be logical to say you could be drafted too.

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**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311/3 "2001-11-26T18:31:03Z")

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A friend of my mom’s is married to a Canadian. We were talking to him about what he could/couldn’t do. He can’t vote, I don’t think he gets social security, and there are plenty of other benefits that he doesn’t get, but one thing he can do is be drafted into the United States military.

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**Author:** ![robo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@robo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311/4 "2001-11-26T19:01:30Z")

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Isn’t it a bit odd that non-citizens can serve? I mean don’t soldiers have to pledge allegiance to their country - a non-citizen couldn’t do this since it’s not their country. How can non-citizens be trusted to serve for a country that isn’t theirs? The whole thing sounds very odd. Do other nations allow non-nationals in their armed forces?

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-residents-drafted-during-vietnam-war/95311/5 "2001-11-26T19:06:03Z")

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Yes they were.

One of my cousins (a Canadian citizen) was living and working in the US at the time of the Vietnam War. He got a draft notice but decided that he didn’t want to go to Vietnam. So he just avoided the draft by coming home to Canada.

Mind, it made it a little difficult when he wanted to go back to the US for a visit, but that was eventually cleared up somehow.