User Name

I wasn't sure about which section of the TFP I should ask this, but whatever. Here goes.

In the very unlikely event of a draft, if such a coward as I am were drafted and were able to choose what branch of the US Military to serve in, which should they choose in order to decrease the likelihood of them being killed or injured in battle? The two seemingly safest branches are the Airforce and the Navy. I don't know if the Coast Guard is considered a military branch, but I guess it would be on top of my list if it was. Yeah, I know this isn't a very patriotic question, but then again, I'm not exactly a patriot. In what branch would I best be able to keep my cowardly ass alive?

Cynthetiq

any of them can be hazardous to your body. war is just that... even in the homeland it's hazardous.

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Psivage

Make your dad go into politics, you should be safe than.

Shokan

I'm totally guessing here, but probaly supply clerks. People in charge of paperwork and things like that. Although its possible for your base to be bombed, at least you are not getting shot at every day.

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sailor

Yep.

The Coast Guard is considered part of the military, but Im not sure that it is elligible for draftees. Dont think that it is safe, either. It is horrifically under-manned, and ATM its primary job is chasing down drug runners. Not to mention that those guys go out in the most heinous weather I have ever seen. Take it from a sailor, those guys sail in stuff that would make me tuck tail and run.

Beyond that, any of them can be hazardous. The Air Force would probably be a good choice--unless you are a pilot, there is probably a good chance of your working behind your lines. Doesnt make it safe though.

I suppose I should let someone with actual experience give advice though

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Crack

Airforce...

http://www.chair-force.com/

trust me

Airman First Class Crackprogram

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MSD

I'm glad to know that in case of a draft, I seem to be the only person actually willing to fight for my country. Everyone wants to do what is safest, nobody wants any risk, that's a good way to get our asses kicked. Maybe, if the draft came back, people should find where they'd be best instead of trying to hide in a nonexistant "safe" branch of the military

Pragma

I'd say that being in the Coast Guard minimizes your chances of going to war, but as sailor said, being in the CG isn't a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.

Ever seen the movie "Perfect Storm" ? My father is best friends with one of the USCG crew that actually rescued those folks. It was not an easy situation to deal with.

Another fun USCG area: breakwater in Washington state, deadly deadly stuff. However, if you don't mind seeing the oceans, you can definitely get around. I cruised around for a while as a passenger on a USCG ice breaker that had just come up from Antarctica and was en route to the North Pole, plus cutters that cruised from Mexico (stopping drug runners) to Alaska (rescuing fishermen, etc.).

That said, I agree with mrselfdestruct. If a draft was instituted, even though I'm safe (being in college) from getting immediatedly drafted, I'd be the first in line to volunteer for the military.

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veruca

i would say the navy...i have friends in, and they were out in the ocean, away from the actual fighting..and it was pretty much like a regular tour when they went to iraq, just with more flights

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User Name

Thanks to people like you, people like me will retain all of their body parts. If I get drafted, I'm off to a Western country that doesn't have great relations with the US. France, perhaps...

RoboBlaster

Well, not everyone wants to fight. Personally, I wouldn't want to go to war, especially if I didn't agree with the cause of the fight in the first place. Though it's not the dying I am afraid of, it's the killing.

Seaver

No, most of the people like you are already signed up... like me.

Wow... I was 100% ok when you wanted to choose the safest branch, at least you'd do your part. But to turn your back on your own country is just sad. You dont want to die for your country, fine I can understand, but dont turn your back on it.

The fighting soldier needs tons of supplies. The safest would be to serve in the Merchant Marine, they are part civilian, part military. They are the ones who ship the food/cloths/ammo/underwear/forks/magasines/etc, everything the soldier could possibly need.

I dont suggest the Coast Guard TBH, their work is to go where other people routinly die, and stay there to make sure others dont. To fix some previous statements, the CG is military in times of war, and was under the Dept. of Transportation until it got switched under Homeland Security.

Oh, and no there would not be a draft, so you can stop worrying. Unless America gets invaded, or somehow ends up going to war with Russia/China the political fallout and logisitcal nightmare that would ensue would simply not be worth it. The military as it stands is more than capable of doing what is asked for it, and possibly the best moral booster is everyone who is there is there on their own accord.

Bill O'Rights

*I just edited myself, because if anyone else had written what I just had, they would've been held to account. Since I'm no different, you're just gonna wait 'till I cool my ass off!*

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VitaminH

I can't get all the privledges I've got in just any country, and I'd be more than happy to step up and fight. I'd probably voulnteer to be a medic, seeing as to how I've got a bit of a medical education going on. Unless they stuck me in a military hospital, I'd be glad to be in the field.

Safest, I'd think the Navy can't be bad. I mean, US ships don't get sunk all to often, excepting very rare idiots on a suicide mission in a speeder full of exploseves. I do have a friend in the USAF who is rarely in a dangerous position, he just helps target the missles from the base.

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Arc101

Don't worry just change your name to Bush, you will not be put in any dangeous situations that way.

Seaver

No, the US aircraft carrier is the most dangerous 4acres of land on the planet. Enormous steam generators, 2 nuclear reactors, millions of gallons of highly refined aviation fuel, tons and tons of highly explosive ordinance, nuclear missles/bombs (yeah they still carry them just in case), flight deck tossing/catching aircraft at +200mph, jet engines that suck people right in (and sometimes out), and prop planes that will do the same.... I could go on.

So yeah, it's not exactly safe... watch the video of the USS Forestal... there's a reason it's known to sailors as the USS Forestfire since then. A missle loaded onto an A-4 attack plane fires off on its own, hits another A-4 fully loaded with fuel/bombs... starts a chain reaction with all of the other attack planes and almost sinks the entire ship.

CrazySaturn

Gee, if you feel like going to France is your best option in case there was a draft, how about you go now? Soon, k?
I'm one of those people who would go to war if there was a draft, and feel that it's a citizen's duty to do so. You (User Name) seem like you want the hamburger but don't wanna kill the cow. Great way to stand up for your country.
Yes, I know, America ain't perfect, but IMHO it's better than anything else out there right now.

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User Name

I'm a first-generation immigrant. Nobody in my family has ties to the political establishment. I guess that makes me even more of an ungrateful person.

User Name

America isn't perfect by far, and while not being the best country (that, to me is reserved for Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries, but I've never been to any of them), it certainly is one of the best. As it is now, I'm fairly satisfied with it. I would only CONSIDER leaving in case of a draft, especially if the draft is caused by a military action that I don't agree with. Blind patriotism is on par with treason, morally.

Also, you said a "citizen's duty". I am not a US citizen, but hopefully, I soon will be. Just pointing that out.

World's King

Which ever one gets stuck passing out food and building shelter after the others destroy everything.

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djtestudo

I personally would make an attempt to get into something with Armed Forces Radio, or the Stars and Stripes, or some desk job somewhere, but that is because I'm not a particularly physically fit person and I'd probably fit better elsewhere then the front. However, I like to think that I would at least volunteer to do SOMETHING.

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Evil Milkman

Get fat. Real fat. Bingo.

djtestudo

You COULD always hack off your big toe, but that may not work anymore.

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User Name

Is being 5'10 and 240lb fat enough?

thejoker130

My family and GF have already conspired to break both my knee caps if i'm drafted. Personally I wouldnt be afraid to go off to war I just wouldnt make a good soldier.

I dont like the idea of some fat general telling me to go off into some battle zone while he's sitting on his ass in some officers lounge drinking scotch with all his general friends slapping each other on the back talking about how "they" keep winning battles.

That and I have a real big problem with authority. Military DI's sound like real fuckin dicks according to the accounts from my dad.

Add all that up to the fact that I beleive in a little something called the sanctity of life. The man that you're going off to kill is just that a man, a human being. If you're able to rationalize the taking of another human life down to the fact that he speaks another language and is from a country that does not recognize McDonalds as the finest thing since we learned how to breath then you are one cold heartless motherfucker and I personally dont care to share the same zip code as you.

I feel for the soldiers who have gone out and been bloodied and have bloodied other men. Take my father for example, he wont be happy till he's no longer of this world because each and every night he sees dead men, that he killed, in his dreams.

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fhqwhgads

Join the Salvation Army...they seem pretty safe. They collect old clothes, ring bells around Xmas time... seems like a cherry gig.

User Name

I would assume most people who become generals have at least some combat experience. They've probably did their part.

Sun Tzu

Don't forget the USS Cole.

Navy Corpsmen carry the most medals of honor of all the branches. . .most of which posthumorously

Explosive Ordinance Disposal

SEALs


Generally if safety is the highest concern; from my observation, interaction, and humble opinion the Air Force (not including pilots) would be the safest. They seem to also be treated the best- as far as living quarters and similiar areas.

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filtherton

If you're that worried about getting drafted you could always bring a "boyfriend" to meet the draft board with you.
It.Really.Is.That.Simple.People.

VitaminH

I stand corrected.



From what I've heard both by reading accounts of war written by soldiers, and speaking directly to them, it's not so much "I want to kill you because you speak a different language and have different cultures" as "Oh crap this guy is going to kill me if I don't shoot first" Hence the all popular saying "kill or be killed".

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Boo

Retired AF here. I believe that AF or Coast Guard are the safest. If you join either, think long and hard about the career field that you choose as you might be in it for 20 years.

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JStrider

i decided the armed forces werent my first choice... thats why im in college now and not the military...

but if things became so desperate that we had to initiate the draft i would happily go to fight for my country...

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forseti-6

Each branch has their cushy jobs...

I'm Army so I know all about it. You have your chaplain assistants, vet helps, cooks, paralegals, recruiters (although not entry level), accountants, etc. I'm sure all the other services have similar MOSs.

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billege

I think it's a shame that some people don't want to pay for the benefits provided by our country. However, I'd like to remind everyone that in this great country he is free to make his decision.

If there is to be a draft, well, then I guess we re-define freedom. Then if they say he goes, he goes. Unless he runs.

That's also his choice.

Our choice is to lead by example. If our country needs men badly enough to demand a draft, I'll enlist before my ### comes up.

I can then provide an example of what a responsible citizen does for his country. If a draft dodger does not follow me, it's his loss. If he leaves, that's to our country's advantage. No one would mourn his leaving.

As to America ever needing another draft, we already have an illegal one.

George W has us involved in (and I'm not making a value judgement here...these are facts) multiple conflicts that are demanding more men than our military has. ALL branches have issued, have been issuing, orders called "Stop Loss." That means that our servicemen and women whose time is legally up, and should be going home, aren't. Becasue there is no one to replace them, they are simply not allowed to leave. This is, in effect, a draft. Many soldiers currently in Iraq should have been home 6 months to a year ago, and out of the military (having served their obligation), but they are forced to remain.

Our great country is very close to having another draft. If GW wins again, and then has nothing to lose, I don't think he'd give a flying fuck if the political fallout was bad for him.

I further think that if that ass started killing enough soldiers, in an effort to further his ends, not the country's, I'd have some tough moral/ethical/patriotic decisions to make myself.

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djtestudo

Last time I checked, it wasn't his decision.

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billege

What "it" isn't his decision?

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I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
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spived2

Airforce definitely. While we were living in a crumbled building and eating t-rats in iraq, they were a block away, in their own compound (with walls to keep US, the army, out ) their own dining facility, satellite tv, several mwr tents, and a lot more. I saw nothing but benefits to being on the airforce side.

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"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

elpha

holy crap thats funny.



i might join the navy. or really anything to stay away from being a grunt.

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irateplatypus

since we're talking about the possibility of a draft, and all those who are drafted are enlisted...

the air force is undoubtedly the safest for enlisted personnel. Just by the very nature of airpower, the officers are usually those put in harm's way. This has a number of exceptions (AWACS, AC-130, Helicopter air crews; Combat Control; Intel; Security Forces), but the ratio of enlisted members in direct combat situations to those in a support role is dramatically lower than it is in other services.

on top of that, the overall mission for AF airpower lends itself to operating in bases that are well established and secure. AF personnel piggyback often in joint efforts, but as a general rule most of the action isn't done on the bleeding edge of the battle front (again, that is unless you're part of an aircrew or AF special forces etc).

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

Boo

Addition to my earlier statement.

Unless you are really really didicated for the long run, never be in a cook or cop career field. Long hours. Think life support, medical, networking, telecom.

Flying positions, EOD, etc are for young pups.

If you want a service that gives you the most time with your family, think AF. That wasn't a determining factor when I joined, but was very nice after I was married...with children.

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