#m: ca:tfa

[jbananabarnes]

Lay me down...

[jbananabarnes]

So here's a thing: There's been a lot of talk in the fandom about Bucky's service/serial number, that with the information we have we can infer that he was drafted. And I love that from a dramatic storytelling standpoint and the parallels between Steve and Bucky and their character's involvement in war - Steve becoming a willing hero, Bucky continuing to fight a war he never signed up for even 70 years later - I really really do love it, but I've always had a few hangups about that theory. The big ones being: was this intentional by filmmakers and is it historically accurate? So lets break this down:  Bucky's service number would indicate that he's a draftee (In case you missed it: 3 indicating a draftee, and 2, indicating recruitment in the state of New York - that information holds water). However, when Bucky is reciting his service number in the Italian Hydra base, he isn't saying enough numbers. Service numbers issued between 1940 and 1945 were 8 numbers long, Bucky is only saying 5. Now I was willing to overlook this, the poor thing has been through a lot and we have no way of telling how long he's been in that room and how long he's been reciting the duress information. He could just be trailing off, he could have forgotten the last 3 numbers. We can easily make a lot of excuses based on circumstances (and ultimate fate of Bucky Barnes) as to why he might not be reciting the entire service number. [Edit: it has been brought to my attention that the First Avenger comic adaptation provides the rest of Bucky's service number, seen here] In The Winter Soldier, when we see Bucky’s memorial in the Smithsonian exhibit it says that he enlisted shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, nothing is mentioned about being drafted here. But again, we can make excuses for why that might be, the big one that stands out; a time honored war hero and symbol of America was actually an unwilling participant in the war that he became a legend in? That’s obviously not going to fly, maybe misinformation was perpetuated or it was just part of the story of Captain America and the Howling Commandos to maintain their legendary status in the annals of history. Who can say?

So that got me to thinking there are too many variables in Bucky’s service number, so what's Steve's service number? I figured if we knew Steve’s number we might be able to make more concrete assumptions about whether or not Bucky was drafted.

As far as I have been able to tell (or find - please, if I am mistaken in this, I would love to know, this whole thing genuinely interests me), the third screenshot is the only instance of a service number attributed to Steve Rogers. We obviously can't see the whole thing, but we do get the first two numbers, which provide the most information about the personnel the number is assigned to. In cases of voluntary enlistment between the years of 1940 and 1945 the first number in an assigned service number is 1. Steve’s is 9. The second number in a typical service number indicates place of recruitment – so just as Bucky’s was 2, Steve’s should also be 2. According to his file, it is 8. 8 as the second number of a service number would mean the individual was recruited in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma or Texas. That doesn’t add up.

But the ninety million series service numbers did exist during WWII, however they were reserved for members of the Philippine Army, a branch of the Philippine armed forces that were called to serve the US army in the Pacific (quick history lesson: in 1941 the Empire of Japan invaded the Philippines shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Philippines was previously under American control due to important military bases on the islands until 1933 when a law was passed ensuring a 10 year transition period of US occupation to Filipino independence – while the US still reserved the right to maintain their military bases in the area – because Pearl Harbor was attacked, the inciting event that brought the United States into the war, before the end of that 10 year period FDR issued orders forcing the Philippine armed forces into active service for the United States and allies), these numbers were rarely used and disappeared after the end of the war. So, there is no historically accurate reason for Steve to have a ninty million service number. The combination of the conflicting Smithsonian information, Bucky not reciting enough numbers in his service number, and Steve’s number marking him as not even being part of the US army, I can’t help but wonder if there was any real intent, as a character building storytelling thing, behind the drafted service number given to Bucky.

Obviously, we’re dealing in fiction in a fictional version of WWII. All this it could debunk the theory of Bucky being drafted, or it could mean nothing at all. Just some food for thought in regards to James Barnes being drafted and just how bad the implications of that hurt to think about.