What You Need to Know About the Automatic Military Draft

By Nikki McCann Ramirez

Nikki McCann Ramirez

It’s one of the most reliable war movie tropes. The reluctant soldier, conscripted against his will, huddled against a wall or bunker or hillside, surrounded by gunfire. They usually die sometime before the third act, a nameless, scolding metaphor for cowardice. 

The concept of a military draft looms large in the American zeitgeist. After all, virtually every major war the United States has fought has involved forced conscription. The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War all used the draft to call young American men up into active duty. The practice ended in 1973, amid widespread public backlash to the Vietnam War, and the U.S. military became an all-volunteer force, with the draft left in place as a theoretical, last resort, “break-glass-in-case-of-big-war” contingency. 

Yet, even after being draft-free for more than half of a century, any outbreak of military conflict inevitably raises the spectre of the Selective Service. 

Over the weekend at the Coachella music festival, The Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas poked fun at President Donald Trump’s ongoing conflict with Iran by joking that attendees at the festival should prepare for war. “You guys excited about the draft? Oh wait — not the NFL draft. In six months, I think everyone who’s eligible is gonna have to register for the military,” he said. “I hope to lead one of the Coachella units. The sexiest unit in our proud military, I’m sure.”

There’s been plenty of chatter about the potential revival of the draft since Trump teamed up with Israel to start a war against Iran — from online influencers joking about the possibility that Barron Trump will have to head to the Middle East, to legitimate confusion about whether young men will soon be forced into service. It doesn’t help that last year the Trump administration launched a push to standardize automatic draft registration across all 50 states. 

Here’s everything you need to know:

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How exactly does the draft work? 

The so-called “draft” — officially the Selective Service System (SSS) — is essentially a big database overseen by an independent government agency. By law, all male U.S. citizens and residents between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register in it. 

Contrary to popular belief, the president does not have unilateral authority to activate the Selective Service System in order to beef up conscriptions. Congress does. If the president went to Congress and claimed he needed to activate the draft, it would be up to legislators to pass an authorization for a military draft. Given that the vast majority of Americans are not in love with the notion of the draft existing in the first place, it would likely take a military crisis of much larger proportions for members of Congress to support such a move. 

Should it happen, eligible men would then be entered into a lottery system. Each birthday in a calendar year (including February 29, so leap-year babies are not exempt) would be assigned a number, and those numbers are then drawn in a public venue. According to the Selective Service website, the first men to receive “induction orders are those whose 20th birthday falls during the year of the lottery.  If required, additional lotteries are conducted for those 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 19, and finally 18.6 years old.” 

Is Trump actually bringing it back? 

It doesn’t seem likely. The speculation that he might be considering it is largely based on reforms made to the Selective Service System under the National Defense Authorization Act budget passed in December of last year. Currently, eligible individuals are required to register with the Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday, and notify the draft every time they move as long as they remain in the eligible age range for a potential draft. Men are almost never prosecuted for failing to do so (at least not in the last few decades) and most states have systems in place for automatic registration alongside applications for drivers licenses, voting, or other forms of I.D. 

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The current system would remain in place until the end of the year, but starting in 2026 the Selective Service System would begin automatically registering eligible men across all 50 states. The new system would rely on the gathering of information on prospective draftees from a slew of government agencies, and isn’t exactly a new proposal. The SSS has been agitating for reform to the system for several presidencies, including under former President Joe Biden. Still, the news last week that the automatic draft will take effect nationwide later this stirred up concern.

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