<p>Could someone please tell me how I can apply for Selective Service? I turn 18 later this month and I guess I need to go ahead and do it</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sss.gov%5B/url%5D”>www.sss.gov</a> you can register online.</p>
<p>Thomaschau, they will still have a end-of-semester deferment - that is, they will allow college students to complete the current semester before being inducted. And if the military happens to draft someone with special skills, like fluency in Arabic, they will certainly consider that – but it won’t guarantee a desk job. Have you ever considered how useful Arabic fluency would be on the front lines in terms of the ability to communicate with the people in the country you happen to be occupying? Anyway - the point is that if the military needs boots on the ground with guns in hand, they will get them - an added skill is a bonus for them, not an exemption. And they don’t really care all that much about translators, anyway – as they are quite willing to kick out qualified gay translators. (Side note: the only way that the British could break the German Enigma code during WW II was through the work of a gay mathametician, Alan Turing… but that fact didn’t stop the Brits from persecuting him for his homosexuality after the war.) </p>
<p>Anyway, army practices are the souce of the acronym, SNAFU. If & when there is a draft, they will continue to do a lot of things that don’t make much sense.</p>
<p>I don’t think they will have to resort to a draft- the military doesn’t want one and from what I have read by reducing federal aid, the government has limited the options available to students upon high school graduation making the military more attractive by comparision perhaps?</p>
<p>*The federal government quietly cut back its largest financial aid program in December, revising a formula that determines a family’s ability to pay. As a result, an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 students will lose Pell Grants entirely. At least 1.3 million students will receive smaller amounts than under the previous rules.
While proposing a small – and needed – increase in the size of Pell Grants, President Bush intends to pay for it by eliminating a handful of other federal financial aid programs, including the Perkins loans thousands of students depend on. *</p>
<p>E-kity previous post really sums up what I believe… that there should be mandatory ‘service’ requirement (1? 2 years?) but there should be an option to perform non combat duties within this service, and it should be required of females as well. </p>
<p>As far as the current selective service situation- I believe it is extremely unlikely that there will be a draft. My son just received his selective service registration card which was a bit sobering, nonetheless.</p>
<p>Calmom the specifics you referred to
"if they reinstate the draft, they will start having a lottery to decide the order of draft, by date of birth. Then they will start by drafting men whose 20th birthday falls within that year; if they run out of 20-year-olds, they’ll move on to 21 year olds, then 22 year olds, and so on. "</p>
<p>were based upon legislation introduced in the 108th Congress by Rep. Charles Rangel. That particular bill was soundly defeated in October.
<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/05/politics/main647612.shtml[/url]”>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/05/politics/main647612.shtml</a></p>
<p>No, fsetha, that’s not true. My statement comes from the Selective Service website here, and reflects current law:
<a href=“http://www.sss.gov/WHHAP.HTM[/url]”>http://www.sss.gov/WHHAP.HTM</a></p>
<p>Why do you think we have a Selective Service? It is by definition a registration for a DRAFT - and the SS has all the procedures in place right now to act upon a draft.</p>
<p>I checked that website, CalMom, and the first thing it says is that Congress and the President would have to authorize a draft.</p>
<p>I stand corrected. The language was also in Rangel’s bill. Pardom my error.</p>
<p>Yes, Congress would have to authorize it - but the procedures as to how it will be conducted are already in place.</p>
<p>The authorization could be by a simple bill, with no other provisions BUT a bare authorization, passed on a simple majority vote. The simpler the bill is, the more likely it will get passed quickly. </p>
<p>If there is any sort of “crisis” - real or imagined - which makes it look like we need a significant increase in troop levels in Iraq or a significant deployment anywhere else in the world … that legislation could be passed in a matter of days. It would be lot easier to get through Congress than, say, the Patriot Act.</p>
<p>The only way to completely avoid the draft is to enlist :)</p>
<p>you know, Calmom, I disagree with your premise that a draft bill would be easy to pass. This time around, there aren’t going to be exemptions for the children of the wealthy–and so Congress would be voting to draft their own families. I also think that Bush won’t allow his daughters to enlist, and if things were desperate enough for a draft, appearances would begin to matter. But hey, I may be insufficiently cynical.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would be easy to pass either, we keep cutting bases, and supposedly want a better trained leaner military.
given the gross errors in judgement with this military ( abu graib et al) I don’t think that anyone is eager to start to draft soldiers who have to be forced to join.
I also hope that the next time a decision is made to go to war, we are going to be asking for a little more evidence that, the last resort of war is needed.</p>
<p>But then again I didn’t vote for him either time.</p>
<p>As of right now - the selective service registration is in effect under current laws - males only. There are 2 bills that are very much on the back burner and have been repeatedly passed by that are essentially exactly the same. Both bills are very explicit in what will be required - and yes - both males AND females will be included in the selective service process - if a draft were to be again instituted. There are also several ways in which they would be utilizied also - some into actual combat/military service, some into community programs, etc… It is pretty explicit that CO will be extremely difficult to achieve - as CO’s can be utilized into many non-combat/military situations. Students in college will NOT be exempt - as they were in the past draft years ago - and medical deferment will also be very difficult as well. Leaving the country will NOT be an option and will be prosecuted to the extent of the law.
Read these bills - they shed alot of light on how it could happen - and hope that they stay right where they presently are.</p>
<p>It is very unlikely that a draft will be re-initiated any time soon - tho the rumors continue to fly - as it effects many of our lives and of our kids also. And yes - the military does feel strongly that a volunteer program does produce better soldiers as of now. There are still resources to fill the military needs - that have not been utilized - but will be soon I am sure. </p>
<p>I agree that those who have been in the reserves never thought this would happen to them - but that is what they agreed to do if called to duty. My heart goes out to all those involved. I cannot imagine sending an 18 yo off to war - any war. For some tho - military service is a saving grace. I support those who are brave enough to make that decision at such a young age.</p>
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<p>Those poor bastards are getting set up for failure. My buddy said one his former platoon mates in the Army for shooting a truck that didn’t stop after ordered to, and in the truck was civilians. He is now doing 4 years in Leavenworth for murder. Now keep in mind that this truck DIDN’T stop after being ordered thusly. If that truck would have been a car bomb, dude wouldn’t be here. Total BS.</p>
<p>I think people are missing calmom’s irony. The Patriot Act passed with relative ease because of the post-9/11 panic/nationalism. If there was another terrorist act on US soil, that draft bill would pass at the speed of light.</p>
<p>Just about his 18th birthday, my son got a notice in the mail saying “You’re Registered” and a card for him to carry to show that he was. He didn’t do anything to “register.” It happened automatically. I’ve wondered how this happened. Perhaps from listing his name and birthdate as a dependent on tax forms…?</p>
<p>"in fact, the main way that rich kids dodged the draft in the 60’s was to get some doctor to give them a bogus diagnosis of something like asthma that would disqualify them from service. "</p>
<p>Does asthma still count as an “out”?</p>
<p>This is scary.</p>
<p>I saw a T-shirt the other day …on the front is read in small, tasteful letters,
“Don’t blame me. I’m for Pennsylvania!” and on the back it read “Blue”.</p>
<p>Digmedia, the FAFSA has a line on it to check if the kid is not registered and you want FAFSA to do the registration for you. So if you or your son filled out a FAFSA before his 18th birthday, then that’s how it happened.</p>
<p>Momsdream, I have no idea what the medical standards are now, though obviously severe enough asthma would have to be a disqualifier. </p>
<p>Use of ritalin within 3 years is a definite disqualifier. So, diagnosis of ADHD + Ritalin prescription = no military service. There are several other pyschiatric medications that are also disfavored by the miitary, some for very good reasons. But the Ritalin “out” is probably the easiest to arrange - and since it is the use of the meds that disqualifies, not the diagnosis itself, once the meds have been prescribed it isn’t going to be overcome by a contrary diagnosis. </p>
<p>It’s very possible that the army would change its policies in a draft situation. They’d also have to reconsider their don’t ask/don’t tell policies, or else there might be a surprising increase in young men wanting to attend and be photographed at gay pride events.</p>