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Message |
    
Connie
Senior Member
Username: Connie
Post Number: 1336
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 03:21 am: | 
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I was in my local post office this week and picked up a flyer about registering for the selective service....news to me. I remember some Democrats were trying to get it started again, but never heard any more about it.
"It's Quick, It's Easy, -It's The Law"
www.sss.gov |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1619
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 04:47 am: |
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Actually, the registration part has been back in force for a long time . . probably close to 20 years or more. Can't recall the exact number.
They aren't drafting from the registrants.
. . yet |
Mike Huss
Senior Member
Username: Mikhu
Post Number: 2153
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 05:09 am: |
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Been more than 20 years, that's for sure. I had to sign up just over 20 years ago and friends older than me had to as well. Unless they stopped it between then and now, but I don't remember ever hearing that happen. |
Bob Wall
Senior Member
Username: Brewdudebob
Post Number: 2430
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 06:35 am: |
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I had to sign up for selective service when I turned 18 even though I had already signed up for delayed entry when I was 17. |
Connie
Senior Member
Username: Connie
Post Number: 1337
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 12:44 pm: |
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geez, I was surprised when I saw it. I guess I just never noticed before. Comes with being an old codger  |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2057
Registered: 02-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 02:10 pm: |
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I had to sign up when I turned 18, 28 years ago minus a few weeks. And now I've got a nagging memory of a song from around that time containing a snip of Wolfman Jack urging young people to do so. I can remember his voice and what he said, but not the song it came from. Something by Devo? Now this will bother me all day. |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1620
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 03:51 pm: |
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Like Paul, I just had to know when selective service went back into effect.
From Wiki:
The United States abandoned the draft in 1973 under President Richard Nixon, ended the Selective Service registration requirement in 1975 under President Gerald Ford, and then re-instated the Selective Service registration requirement in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter.Today the Selective Service System remains as a contingency, should a military draft be re-introduced. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 9932
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 04:25 pm: |
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I had a friend who was in the last group to be drafted in May 1973. They let him out after only 16 months of active duty.
But yes, Selective Service registration for young men when they turn 18 has been in effect for a long time now. There are occasional rumblings about registering young women and turning the program into one of national service. |
Merle
Member
Username: Merle
Post Number: 108
Registered: 05-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 06:27 pm: |
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"Men born from March 29, 1957, through December 31, 1959, were not required to register with Selective Service"
I fall into this age group, so I have never registered.
I had to go through some research, and call the SSA, in the early 90's to get JTPA retraining benefits.
JTPA asked if I had registered and I said I had not. They said I was not eligible to receive any federal assistance unless I had and I was now to old to register.
A week or so later when I showed the lady at the unemployment office the letter from the SSA stating I did not have register and I was eligible for benefits, I asked her if she was registered. If looks could kill.
(Message edited by Merle on February 08, 2009) |
Randy Ricchi
Member
Username: Bigr
Post Number: 103
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 12:45 am: |
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Merle,
I fall in the same age category as you. I never registered. Years later I started to wonder if I missed something back then and was actually supposed to register. Been worried about it since (not all the time, of course). This is nice to see this. |
Skotrat
Advanced Member
Username: Skotrat
Post Number: 869
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 02:32 pm: |
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I believe that every American should serve in some form of the service for 2 years right out of high school. |
Doug Pescatore
Senior Member
Username: Doug_p
Post Number: 2198
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 06:01 pm: |
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Funny, I was very proud to do it when I turned 18 almost 24 years ago. But growing up with a dad in the army may have had something to do with that.
-Doug |
davidwaite
Senior Member
Username: Davidw
Post Number: 1943
Registered: 03-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 06:20 pm: |
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I personally feel that all 18 year olds should at the very least be required to go through basic training. Then they will learn something about discipline, a lot about respect, not to mention gain some motivation about what they want to do with their life. |
Doug Pescatore
Senior Member
Username: Doug_p
Post Number: 2199
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 07:02 pm: |
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I'm sorry but the army is not for everyone. I have watched the soldiers in basic training work themselves to death and yes we loose a couple soldiers a year in basic training. Not every soldier that makes it out of basic is a model citizen either. Yes, it is character building but no it is not a silver bullet for the ills of our youth. Two years of service in some form would do his country a lot of good, but like I said not everyone is cut out for the military. |
Skotrat
Advanced Member
Username: Skotrat
Post Number: 870
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 08:12 pm: |
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That is exactly why I stated "Some Form of the Service" |
davidwaite
Senior Member
Username: Davidw
Post Number: 1944
Registered: 03-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 08:23 pm: |
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I certainly don't think it would be a "silver bullet" for every single person going through it. And obviously every person who has went through basic is not a model citizen. The military is, after all, a sample of our population. But for many it would be a step in the right direction. I guess I'm just biased because I saw several people in my class that I thought would never make it and ended up being a much better person because of the experience. |
Bob Wall
Senior Member
Username: Brewdudebob
Post Number: 2432
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 10:45 pm: |
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Skot, is this what you are thinking of?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoDEKRbd3gc
 |
Graham Cox
Senior Member
Username: T2driver
Post Number: 2081
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 04:31 am: |
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I heartily endorse Skot's suggestion. Whatever it takes to insert a jolt of "It ain't all about you, maggot," into the minds of the useless is 100%, A-OK by me. |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 6524
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 11:23 am: |
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I was at the tail end of the draft. I had to register and, IIRC, was classified as 1-H which meant "unclassfied." |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 9937
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 02:05 pm: |
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I have mixed feelings about the concept of required national service. It's a noble and worthy idea, but the execution of it is far from ideal. I know Europeans who have come from countries where it is considered more of a national joke than a shining example of service to the country. People seem to pride themselves on concocting schemes to evade it, or if subjected to it, treat it as a kind of life lesson about how things should not be done. I'm afraid it's part of human nature to try not to do what you are told. |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2059
Registered: 02-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 02:21 pm: |
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Some things to remember when designing any such scheme:
First, there are an awful freakin' lot of 18 - 20 year olds in this country. Nearly 4% of the population in 2000. Even accounting for those already in the service, you would be adding about 10 million people to the federal payroll. And since they revolve constantly, your training budget would have to be enormous. Plus insurance (or equivalent -- would they all be eligible for Veterans' benefits?) and administration (permanent staff to manage all those transients). It would require a LOT of money.
And what would they all DO? Making work for them would distort markets, undercut private sector initiatives, mis-allocate capital wastefully, and massively expand federal intrusion into people's lives.
All in all, this is not the kind of thing I'd expect the conservatives on this board to get behind. |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2061
Registered: 02-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 05:31 pm: |
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Just got off the phone with my wife, a physician with the Veteran's Admin health care system. It occurred to me that, if everyone (well, everyone not dishonorably discharged) got VA health benefits, we'd have (nearly) universal coverage in a government-financed, single-payer healthcare system. Socialized medicine! |
davidwaite
Senior Member
Username: Davidw
Post Number: 1945
Registered: 03-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 05:33 pm: |
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Hey now, Paul, I never said anything about them getting paid! Yet another lesson, life isn't all about making money!
 |
davidwaite
Senior Member
Username: Davidw
Post Number: 1946
Registered: 03-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 05:37 pm: |
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Or VA benefits for that matter. At my place of business you're not eligible for either health care or 401k until you've completed 6 months. |
Doug Pescatore
Senior Member
Username: Doug_p
Post Number: 2201
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 06:12 pm: |
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Indentured servitude some somebody...not me...just the next guy.
There could be a way to develop a service corp for young adults......it just needs to be fleshed out and I am sure there are several versions written out in several building throughout DC.
-Doug |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 6527
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 09:50 pm: |
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I heard that Jefferson thought that conscription was worse than slavery. At least with slavery, the owner has a stake in the health of the slave. With conscription, the draftee can become cannon fodder. An interesting question. Is it better to be enslaved or drafted? Now the slaves of the Nazi era were considered perishable tooling - the worst of both worlds. |
Jason Bentley
Member
Username: Pacoustic
Post Number: 179
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 11:18 pm: |
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I think civil service of some sort is a great thing. So much so that at 30 I decided to join the Navy. No joke. I ship the 18th of this month. So if anyone was wondering. That's what I've been up to. My boss isn't very happy about it now he has to find someone to replace me. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 9941
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 01:28 am: |
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Good luck to you, Jason. I recall stories from a relative who went through World War II era basic training at the age of 40. He said the young recruits and draftees called him "Gramps." |
Bob Wall
Senior Member
Username: Brewdudebob
Post Number: 2435
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 03:18 am: |
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Good for you Jason. I am proud of you. I tossed around the idea of re-enlisting after 9-11. The company I was working for was going out of business and the dot-com bubble had recently burst. If I were single, I just may have re-upped. Lucky for me, I found a job and landed on my feet before unemployment kicked in. |
Merle
Member
Username: Merle
Post Number: 109
Registered: 05-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 04:46 am: |
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I probably would have joined the Air Force like my brothers had during Vietnam had it not ended shortly before I graduated from high school. Both received draft notices after they enlisted. I'm glad I wasn't forced to make a choice. It wasn't about patriotism or lack of, but a freedom to choose not having to serve. Had several friend come back from the serving in Vietnam and noticed a definite change in their personalities.
Sometimes I wonder what if I had joined, how different my life would have been, and if I would have meet and married my wife of thirty-one years |
Brewzz
Advanced Member
Username: Brewzz
Post Number: 591
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2009 - 09:35 pm: |
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They had just started the lottery when I turned 18.My # was 327.Dang,missed out on my senior trip to the far east...
I too wonder what my life would have been like had I gone to Nam...
Brewzz |
Jeff Rankert
Junior Member
Username: Hopfenundmalz
Post Number: 35
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 06:20 pm: |
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I was in the second draft lottery.
My number was 321. You can remember those things after many years.
A buddies number was 3, but he just shrugged. He was in Navy ROTC, and went on to be a RIO in an F-4. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 9967
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 07:43 pm: |
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Yes, your draft lottery number was of prime importance back in the day. I knew friends who were both number 1 and number 366. The one with the unlucky number had a sad tale to tell because of it. He went to Canada for a while, couldn't find work and came back. His father turned him in, and he was faced with either prison or the draft. In his final week of basic training, his knee went out (the consequences of a high school football injury that two doctors had examined on draft appeals) and he was sent home with a medical discharge.
My own number was 318, which was cause for much celebration. My brother's was 12, but he found a sympathetic doctor who was able to turn his allergies into an exemption. |
Denny Conn
Senior Member
Username: Denny
Post Number: 7158
Registered: 01-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 08:41 pm: |
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My # was 62. When I went for my physical, they decided I was crazy. Imagine that.... |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 9970
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 09:00 pm: |
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Denny, what did you wear or do or tell them? My local draft board was notoriously strict, and they had virtually everyone take the physical, no matter how high your lottery number. I recall some really loose cannons among the group I was with, and they passed just about everyone except a couple of convicted felons who had done hard time. I think they would have given the seeing-eye dogs a vision test.
(Message edited by BillPierce on February 16, 2009) |
Bob Wall
Senior Member
Username: Brewdudebob
Post Number: 2448
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 09:23 pm: |
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When I was in-processing in Milwaukee, they gave us all a little plastic cup and asked us to go into the bathroom and provide a sample. The first guy in line goes into the can and is taking forever, so the medic pounds on the door and asks what the hold up is. The guy said he was almost done. a minute or so later, he comes out of the can with a big ol' turd in the cup looking like a chocolate Dairy Queen sundae.
For a moment or two, there was dead silence. then one of the Sergeants starts screaming at the guy, and the rest of us erupt into a roar of laughter. Needless to say, this guy never finished his in-processing, at least not that day.
 |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 6538
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 02:25 pm: |
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I was so late in the lottery that it really didn't occur to me to have to have think about it much. It was a big deal to the guys a couple of years older. |
Denny Conn
Senior Member
Username: Denny
Post Number: 7160
Registered: 01-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 06:54 pm: |
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Bill, I didn't really have to do much of anything to convince them. They ran me through the physical and I answered the questions pretty honestly. I recall they had me stand with my back to a wall, with my arms outstretched and my eyes closed in order to determine something. About all I recall other than that is the hellacious snowstorm I had to drive through between Ames and Des Moines at 4 AM to get to the physical on time. |
Steve Ruch
Member
Username: Rookie
Post Number: 184
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 22, 2009 - 04:21 pm: |
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I joined the navy to avoid getting drafted into the army. I spent a lot of years thinking I threw away four years of my life. Until I got signed up at the V.A. as a low income vet and started getting medical care. Three surgeries and several weeks in the hospital for no charge changed my mind.
Although until I get it off with pay I think Veteran's day is just lip service. |
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