On January 3, Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani, the second most powerful person in Iran, was killed by in an airstrike ordered by President Trump. A few days into 2020, social media users found themselves in the trending storm of World War III memes. In the midst of all these memes, it was hard to find an article, or even a Tweet that had real information about a potential war. 

Iran retaliated with missiles fired at US bases in Iraq on Jan. 7, threatening that if the US did not back down, there would be much worse to come. On Jan. 8, Trump said that no American troops were harmed and minimal damage occured at the US bases and announced new sanctions on Iran. Things are looking as though they will be calm for awhile as Trump said, “The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.”

“I think people are just scared. I think people see action in the Middle East and we always assume a World War III is gonna happen, and that it’s gonna be a war with a lot of soldiers,” East high teacher and Army veteran Jeremiah.

After memes popped up in social media feeds, a fear of the hypothetical draft broke out. Most students did not and still do not understand the process of a draft, but a small portion of the information promoted by these memes was not actually false. Not knowing which information was true or false increased worries among young adults and social media users. 

“A draft would be unlikely because with new technology, you don’t need as many people. And I feel like we have enough military to sustain us through active, reserve, and inactive forces,” Cox said. 

The last Selective Service military draft ended on Jan. 27, 1973, as the Vietnam War was coming to an end. Since 1973, the military has been completely volunteer, but in the case of a national emergency, Congress could reinstate the draft.  Even though the military has been all-volunteer for nearly 50 years, it is still mandatory for all men ages 18 to 25 to register for Selective Service. Without registering for Selective Service, men cannot get federal student aid, receive federal job training, or be employed at a government job, and can possibly result in jail time (usa.gov/selectiveservice).

“To have a draft, it has to go through Congress and be approved by all of those people. Right now, the house is mainly Democratic, so the chance of it even passing is very slim,” S3 training and operations officer at Central’s JROTC program Marissa Thompson said. 

Towards the end of 2017, there were a total of 1.3 million active-duty military and 800,000 reserve forces. After the assasination of Soleimani, 3000 troops were deployed to the Middle East. For there to be a draft would mean that significant damage has been done to the amount of soldiers we have currently. If the retaliation of Iran on Jan. 8 was the end of armed conflict, a draft would be in no way necessary. 

“I think people are just scared. I think people see the action in the Middle East and we always assume a World War III is gonna happen, and that’s it’s gonna be a war with a lot of soldiers. But in today’s world in fighting, it will be less soldiers and more technology,” Cox said. 

When citizens know what is going on in the country and world, there is less reason to fear. Part of this comes from government accountability, but a lot of it falls on the individual. It is up to every person to stay informed. 

“A lot of kids, especially here, don’t like to read all the little details and check multiple sources. A lot of people just saw the memes about WWIII and didn’t actually check into what was going on” Thompson said. 

There are many ways for young people to keep up with world news. According to Business 2 Community, social media is an effective and up-to-date way to keep up with the news. Other effective methods are email, and even radio.

“It’s necessary [to talk about war on the internet]. I think you need to know. Is it any different from me talking about war in my classroom?” Cox said.

“I think people are just scared. I think people see the action in the Middle East and we always assume a World War III is gonna happen, and that’s it’s gonna be a war with a lot of soldiers. But in today’s world in fighting, it will be less soldiers and more technology” East high teacher and army veteran Jeremiah Cox said.