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this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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True. I always read conscription and think "sent to the frontlines", but there's a lot of logistics and support that goes into an army.
My dad got drafted during Vietnam, and landed himself a position doing some supply/logistics stuff and basically spent his whole time chilling in Kentucky doing warehouse and office stuff. Admittedly he also did his damnedest on every aptitude test, evaluation, etc. they gave him to make himself out to be a coward and play up any non-combat skills he had specifically trying to end up doing something like that.
There's of course a lot of differences between 'Nam and Ukraine, but at the end of the day every army throughout history has relied on a whole bunch of people who weren't on the front lines to make things work. You need a whole lot of mechanics, warehouse workers, pencil pushers, IT staff, cooks, medical staff, truck drivers, etc. and if you're able to use people who wouldn't be able to hack it physically/mentally/emotionally on the front lines to fill those roles, it's kind of a no-brainer so that soldiers who are able to do it aren't tied up behind the scenes when they're needed.
Of course it absolutely sucks for anyone who gets conscripted.
Somewhat similar to what happened to my grandpa. Technically wasn't drafted, he had buddy in the draft office gave him a heads up that'd it'd be a very good idea for him to enlist soon. He ended up as a supply officer in Okinawa and got to take my grandma with him. Good thing too (and largely why it happened), the man's eyesight is/was awful. He would've almost certainly been a dead man had he ever lost his glasses in combat