Joe Rogan made it clear that he’s no fan of reinstating mandatory conscription, something that hasn’t existed in the United States since the Vietnam era.
The war in Iran has smoked out supporters of the military draft which some see as a necessity to beef up the ranks amid tensions in the volatile Middle East region. Among those calling for forced service was data and analytics powerhouse Palantir which advocated for a return to national service as part of a controversial 22-point manifesto posted to X last month.
“We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost,” the post stated.
The podcasting king isn’t down with it and had a blunt and profane message for the draft pushers: f**k you! You go” suggesting that those who casually call for sending others off to fight in foreign wars without their own skin in the game should get their own asses to the frontlines.
Joe Rogan: “These motherfuckers are talking about drafting people. Palantir thinks we should re-introduce conscription. I don’t understand why anybody would wanna support that after this Iran war where everybody’s like why the fuck are we in Iran? How about fuck you? You go” pic.twitter.com/DryvesXTEz
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) May 14, 2026
On a recent episode of his popular Spotify podcast, Rogan and musician Marcus King were discussing Iran when the subject of forced military service came up, triggering a cluster f-bombing from the host.
“I don’t understand why anybody would wanna support that, that sounds crazy,” Rogan said, according to a transcript. “Especially after this Iran war where everybody’s like, ‘Why the f**k are we in Iran?’ and if you signed up for that? That sounds nuts.”
“Why the f**k would a tech company be saying that we need to move toward a universal national military service? How about, f**k you? How about, f**k you, you go,” he continued. “Cause you know none of these tech dorks that are running these companies, they’re not doing it. Like, what are you talking about? Throwing meat into the machine. Throwing peoples’ children into these unnecessary wars. F**k you!”
King chimed in: “It’s scary.”
“It’s very scary. It’s scary that they would — how ’bout let’s figure out a way to use your technology so there’s no more wars?” Rogan ranted. “Wouldn’t that be a better goal?”
“Instead of getting kids to learn how to go f**king shoot people they don’t know because someone tells you to? And how many of these — out of all the wars we’ve been in since WWII, is it zero that made sense? I think it’s zero,” the host added. “I don’t think there’s one war that we’ve been in since WWII that makes any f**kin’ sense at all and they’re like, ‘The solution is, we need more people to be forced into it.’”
Rogan has been an outspoken critic of the Iran war since President Donald J. Trump dialed up the strikes on the Islamic Republic and while it initially looked like ground troops would be deployed, the fragile ceasefire has precluded the drastic measure – for now.
The war has set off draft jitters, especially after it was reported that a proposed new rule would have military-aged men automatically registered with the Selective Service beginning later this year.
After King asked what a modern draft would look like, Rogan responded “That’s a good question.”
“I’m for people doing whatever they want, but when it comes to, like, combat, you’re gonna draft women? That would be fucking insane,” he said. “That would be insane, so are you not gonna — are you gonna be sexist? Are you gonna go inclusion and say, ‘everybody has to do it.’ Well, then, that’ll be good for America ’cause most people would say, ‘Get the f**k outta here. There’s not a chance in hell we’re doing that.’”
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