The Forgotten Reason The US Ended The Military Draft

Assassination in the ranks

(Public domain)

The United States ended the practice of conscription in 1973. The US backed off after years of compelling young men to take up arms for their country. Most people attribute this decision to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War, but the truth is much darker. While there were protests and draft dodgers at home, some of the men who were forced to deploy to Vietnam remained bitter and angry.

One problem that was infecting the ranks in Vietnam was the practice of fragging. Fragging was the intentional assassination (or attempted assassination) of officers who soldiers felt were putting their lives in danger or dared to enforce rigid discipline. Soldiers, often drunk or high on drugs, would pull the pin on their standard issue fragmentation grenade and toss it into the “hooch” where their superior officer was sleeping with the hopes of killing or maiming them. Fragging was a huge issue and one that the United States failed to get a grip on throughout the latter half of the Vietnam War.

Fragging Incidents

Fragging was not a fringe thing that happened once or twice. The United States internally acknowledged over 900 such incidents, with many of them resulting in fatalities. The threat of being fragged by their own men loomed heavily…