Is the Draft coming back?

[queentonic]

Here is what war with Iran would look like
President Trump said war will mean the "official end of Iran." But what would that take?
D. Parvaz
May 20, 2019, 2:29 pm m

“The entire active duty U.S. Army and Marine Corps today totals a bit over 600,000 troops. That is not enough men to invade Iran. Even if you mobilized the entire National Guard and Reserves, you would not feel comfortable invading Iran with a force that size,” he said, adding that it’s hard to speculate about casualties and costs. What would be needed for sure, though, is a draft.

[Note: Iran's military: The regular armed forces have an estimated 398,000 personnel: the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces, 350,000 personnel, of which 220,000 are conscripts; the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, 18,000 personnel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, 30,000 airmen.]

<more>

https://thinkprogress.org/war-iran-us-troops-draft-trump-bolton-e649c4a98b98/?fbclid=IwAR2DIhJBq4_t20CQbYTzgXmHL-A_QWoL2y_X3O-YX-STSjrp_soG7Ck1CYg

[democratisphere]

1. Sure. Let's blow a few trillion more on a rethuglicon unnecessary war.

[Meadowoak]

2. They will never reinstate the draft, people might pay attention

If their kids are at risk of being drafted. They will continue with an all voluntary army outsourced through blackwater and Erik Prince.

[raccoon]

16. Dah winnah! nt

[Recursion]

3. Textbook is 4:1 numerical superiority for an invasion/occupation

Though Shinsecki got fired for saying that the last time around, but he ended up being proven right (the ratio hasn't particularly changed since Alexander the Great's time).

[Kaleva]

6. Alexander had far fewer soldiers then Darius III had

History is replete with examples of smaller invading forces defeating larger, defending forces. And I don't understand what you mean by needing a 4:1 numerical superiority for an occupation. What are you comparing?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. A United Greece had fewer soldiers on the fields of Plataea...

and defeated a mighty Persian Empire.

A war with Iran will needs several million American troops because of just how large that area is. A massive loss of life could be expected. Surging deficits, protests in the streets unseen since Vietnam.

A war with Iran and talks of re-instating the Draft will surely get out voters for Democrats who DO NOT want war.

[Kaleva]

15. Alexander invaded the Persian Empire with about 40k troops

And he conquered the vast empire defeating by forces often much larger then his own.

"A war with Iran will needs several million American troops because of just how large that area is. "

I don't know where you get the idea that all of Iran would need to be subjected. The fanatical Japanese still controlled a great amount of area when the Japanese Empire surrendered. Below is a map of the Japanese Empire and territories it still controlled at the end of WWII:

https://omniatlas.com/maps/asia-pacific/19450815/

[Polybius]

4. It's more than enough

600,000 on the ground after key areal attacks for a couple of months would demolish Iran. Hopefully it never comes to that.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. If they thought the Iraq War was bad - Iran is much larger and more populous

And the young fighters there are not afraid to die - as was proven by the Iran-Iraq War, which Iraq wouldn't have survived without aid from the Reagan-Bush I administrations.

[Captain Stern]

8. I don't think a draft would ever work in this country again.

There aren't enough people left in this country that remember when the possibility of being drafted was a normal thing. The last guy that got drafted is 66 years old now.

Most people that would get drafted now, simply wouldn't show up. They'd lawyer up. And, they'd have the support of their parents.

They wouldn't even have to move to Canada, because the military doesn't have the resources to round them up.

And even if the issue was forced, all a draftee would have to do to get out of serving, is a get a note from a Doctor saying they had bone spurs.

[Buckeyeblue]

11. Most 18 year olds today aren't mentally capable of being drafted

My dad's generation was the last one to get drafted. Their parents seemed to take a harsher approach to parenting. And their parents had fought in WWII. It's just a different mindset.

[safeinOhio]

9. Give them a chance for revenge against those

that brought them the horrors of the Shah. That was not that long ago.

[stonecutter357]

10. Is tearing Draft cards coming back ?

[woodsprite]

12. I certainly hope not.

My son is 19. I received a call from an Army recruiter on my personal cell phone the other day. First they asked for some stranger, then asked me if by any chance I had a son named —-. I said “yes”. It went like this:

Me: No. He’s not here.
Rec: When can I call back.
Me: To whom am I speaking?
Rec: Army Recruiter. We just wanted to speak to him.
Me: Don’t think so. You already have his 4 cousins. My son isn’t interested in serving in the military, especially under *this* “commander in chief”. Besides, if he wanted to talk to you, he would have given you his number, not mine.
Rec: I certainly understand man, but I need to hear that from him.
Me: No you don’t. Have a nice day.

(Pretty sure they used a rock climbing/field day actuvity at his high school to collect additional info on the kids graduating last year. He’s already a sophomore in college, full ride. His 5 cousins were told by their parents “go in the military or find a way to pay for college yourself”.

[RandiFan1290]

13. Would Nancy and the Democrats

agree to fund another debacle?

[Hoyt]

14. If we learned anything in Iraq, invading does not work. And Iran's military is orders of magnitude

better equipped/prepared than Iraq.

I hope we neither invade or bomb Iran (or anything else), but invasion would be suicide and ultimately fail unless one wants to kill/wound a lot of our guys.