Over the course of the Vietnam war, 2.2 million American men were drafted and sent to fight against their will. These men had to put their lives on hold to fight and possibly die to defend a foreign country on the other side of the world. With rising tensions in Ukraine, the question on everyone’s mind is: Am I going to get drafted to fight in eastern Europe? Lucky for you, in the unlikely case there is a draft, there are many ways to avoid the draft, each with varying degrees of legality.

The first, and easiest, way to dodge the draft is to be a woman. The draft does not include women, making it so girls will never be selected in the lottery unless the rules are changed. Unfortunately, if you are not a girl you’re going to have to get a little bit creative. The easiest way to avoid the draft as a man is to be a conscientious objector. A conscientious objector is someone who cannot fight based on moral beliefs or religion. Mennonites, the Amish, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Quakers beliefs prevent them from military services, and the best part is it’s completely legal. However, lying about your beliefs to become a conscientious objector is, in fact, illegal.

Another great way to avoid the draft is simply by having a health condition. According to the New York Times, the military will not send you to fight if you have even simple treatable health conditions like hepatitis or ulcers. Don’t have any health conditions? Easy, just make something up. During Vietnam, draft dodgers wouldn’t sleep or do tons of drugs before their health screening to seem diseased so they would be rejected from the draft. It should be noted, however, that faking medical conditions to avoid the draft may not entirely be legal. If you don’t feel like faking a medical condition and are more of a man looking to start a family, simply having a child will significantly lower your chances of getting selected by lowering your draft priority. But if you’re the kind of man who needs 100% assurance that you won’t be drafted, or you don’t want to be tied down, don’t worry, there are ways for you to get out of the draft too. 

Leaving the country is always a great option. If you don’t feel like getting drafted, and you’re sick and tired of getting pushed around by Uncle Sam, fleeing the country to Mexico or Canada is a guaranteed get out of selective service free card. Now your only worry is those pesky immigration laws, as if you’re caught during your illegal defection you may be arrested and deported. One of the most common methods of draft dodging during the Vietnam war was getting deferred via college. Unfortunately, in the modern day that method no longer works very well. According to sss.gov, college deferment now only lasts until the end of the current semester, or if you’re a senior until the end of the academic year.

Perhaps the most morally right way to dodge the draft would be to enlist in the military. Those who have previously served are not eligible to be drafted back into service. This may seem counterintuitive as you may believe that the purpose of dodging the draft is to avoid service in its entirety, but that’s not always the case. The U.S. would only consider restarting the draft in times of war, but during peacetime the military can be a relatively safe job. By serving in a time of peace you can ensure that you won’t be compelled to serve during a more dangerous time. There is a way to use this method without enlisting in the first place, though. By forging military papers you can convince old Uncle Sam that you’ve already done your time. Of course, if you were to try this you’d better make sure your work is convincing, as this may be a little less than legal, and if caught you may face jail time thanks to the stolen valor act.

I hope that this article has helped you in any draft dodging needs you may have. Of course, at the end of the day it is highly unlikely that the US will reinstate the draft anytime soon. Although the US hasn’t gotten rid of selective service, it hasn’t been used since the Vietnam war, and the public outrage that would result from it being reintroduced would be monumental. But seeing as nothing is ever certain, it can’t hurt to be prepared.