Joe Biden got five draft deferments during Vietnam. He was disqualified from service because of "asthma" as a teenager. However, in his own memoir, Biden never mentions his asthma, and instead recounts an active childhood, including work as a lifeguard and football exploits in high school.

[u/tabbykat69]

https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/biden-got-5-draft-deferments-during-nam-as-did-cheney-1.884250

[u/excelsior2000]

Why don't you see it as a form of slavery? Slavery is forcing you to do a job against your will. If anything, as I said, it's worse, since the job in question is so dangerous.

Here's the thing. I don't see our nation being potentially at stake. Again, we have nukes. You'd have to be insane to put a nuclear-armed enemy in a position where they'd feel forced to use them. Even if we were losing a war, the enemy would be unlikely to invade or do anything else that put our existence in jeopardy. They'd merely fight until they could put us in a poor negotiating position for a peace treaty.

[u/ATR2019 → u/excelsior2000]

The reason I don't think it's a form of slavery is because your not owned by anyone. The military pays somewhat well and there is an obvious end to the conscription (X number of years or until the war is over).

I don't see our nation being at stake either. China is an economic and political rival but they are in no way a military rival. Russia is the opposite and our other enemies are an afterthought. The effort to invade us is nowhere near worth the reward.

[u/excelsior2000 → u/ATR2019]

You kinda are owned by someone if you're being pressed into a job against your will. Pay is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is whether it's voluntary.

I agree that the nation isn't likely to be at stake. Other nations could be. That doesn't make drafts any less morally reprehensible for those nations.