adminNBA Hall of Famer Dwight Howard took to social media to offer President Donald Trump a suggestion that many people, including the president, may disagree with: that “everyone born in America” should serve a mandatory year of service to the country.
The former Orlando Magic center took the stance that if we, as Americans, served one year, it would help with discipline and structure. He did ask people to chime in with their thoughts.
Random. I honestly feel like the president should make one year of service mandatory for everyone born in America. A lot of other countries do it. And I think it would help with discipline and structure. I’m curious what yall think would this help America or nah.— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) December 29, 2025
The people did not disappoint in their responses.
A suggestion was made that may benefit more citizens by promoting decency among them. Someone said people should spend a year working in customer service to learn how to better deal with different people.
I think one year of customer service of any type (retail, serving, bartending, phones, etc) would help this country all understand each other and maybe even get along better.— ʀɨʟɛʏ (@RileySullivan3) December 29, 2025
However, Howard doubled down and continued to push for the mandatory military service. Another person advocated requiring people to take aptitude tests to be allowed to vote, then to serve a year.
People should get an aptitude test before they are allowed to vote. This should happen before mandatory service.— Andrew Julian Mahiga (@Drudysseus) December 29, 2025
This user is not part of that program at all, as he believes no one should be forced into service to “build discipline.”
Other countries do it for security reasons or they need the manpower. Either they face constant threats of attack or they’re small and can’t field a military with only volunteers.We have neither.No country on Earth forces military service to just “build discipline.”— Power DF (@PowerGotNow) December 29, 2025
X user Doran Maul wondered how this can happen when we can’t even get people to vote voluntarily.
Dwight, we can’t even get folks to vote. One year? Nah.— Doran (@doranmaul) December 29, 2025
Someone else had to remind him that even the president himself evaded service by claiming he had bone spurs.
The man himself claimed bad feet to not serve. That’s my reply— Chick Hernandez (@MrChickSports) December 29, 2025
Howard played 18 seasons in the NBA with the Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, and Philadelphia 76ers. He won an NBA Championship while playing with the Lakers in 2020. He was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for three straight seasons, named to the All-NBA First Team in five consecutive seasons for eight appearances, and selected for the All-Star Game in eight straight seasons. He also led the league in rebounds for five seasons and blocks in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
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