Navigating the Draft: What College Students Need to Know
In light of rising global tensions, particularly the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, questions about the draft and its implications for young people, including college students, have resurfaced. While the United States currently maintains an all-volunteer military force, the Selective Service System remains in place as a contingency plan. This article addresses the key aspects of the draft, its potential impact on college students, and related considerations.
Understanding the Selective Service System
The draft, officially known as the Selective Service System, is a government bureau separate from the Defense Department. Its mission is to register men and maintain a system that, when authorized by the President and Congress, rapidly provides personnel in a fair and equitable manner while managing an alternative service program for conscientious objectors. Basically, this means that if we ever have a national emergency or war that the all-volunteer military can't adequately support, Congress and the president can reinstate the draft and force male citizens to serve in the military.
The Selective Service System has changed a lot since the 1970s. If a draft were held today, there would be fewer reasons to excuse a man from service. It would be different from the one held during the Vietnam War.
Who Must Register?
The Conscription in the United States, most commonly known as the draft, is a contingency plan to fill in vacancies in the American military when needed with males ages 18 to 25 in the event of a war against the United States. The draft is a contingency plan which means it is the United States’ last resort if the military ever gets overwhelmed or short on numbers during and only during a war directly against the United States and their interests and territories. Keep in mind, the United States ranks first in the world in military strength and technological advantage. We rival Russia for the number one spot in the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and the United States spends more on the military than Russia, China and India, combined. isn’t even involved in. If the draft was ever instated by Congress, all men ages 18 to 25 are eligible but to that, I must add that you also have to be a citizen of the United States and the territories (except American Samoa) or an immigrant (documented, undocumented and refugees) living in the United States.
All male citizens and immigrants, ages 18 through 25, are required to register with the government. You may have seen the question "Have you registered for the selective service?" on applications for jobs, driver's licenses, student aid and more.
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While women have not been excluded from combat service since 2013, they currently are not required to register for the draft. The law as it's written now refers specifically to "male persons" in stating who must register and who would be drafted. Unless Congress changes the law, women are not permitted or required to register for the Selective Service System.
Consequences of Not Registering
Legally, you could be in a lot of trouble if you don't register: It's a felony. However, no one has been prosecuted for the crime since 1986. But that doesn't mean you won't have problems.
If you fail to register for the draft by the time you turn 26, you are no longer able to do so. Then, if you apply for any government benefits at any time after that, you quite possibly will be denied. No student aid, government job, etc.
Government statistics suggest that more than 1 million men have been denied some government benefits because they weren't registered for the draft. An appeal to get those benefits can be costly and time-consuming.
In 2017, the Selective Service System turned over nearly 200,000 names and addresses of people who had failed to register for the draft to the Department of Justice for computer matching.
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Failing to register for the draft or join the military as directed is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 or a prison term of up to five years, or a combination of both. A felony conviction means you lose your right to vote and the right to own, possess and use a firearm, among other things.
Draft Eligibility and Deferments
To be eligible for the draft, you must also be mentally, physically and morally fit for the military. If you are handicapped but can function in public without assistance, you are eligible for the draft. If you are also assigned male at birth but transitioned and are now a female, you are eligible to be drafted but probably won’t be instated into the military.
Here are some of the instances the United States will let you either temporarily or permanently defer if you were to be drafted. If you are a high school student (whether regular or dual enrollment) you can temporarily defer your draft till you turn 20 or graduate high school, whichever comes first. If you are a college student, you can defer your draft temporarily until you finish whatever semester you are enrolled in college for or if you are in your last year, you can defer until the academic year is over. If anyone depends on you like a child (infant to 17) or a senior citizen (65 and above) or even a pregnant spouse or if you are expecting a child, you can permanently defer your draft. If you are a student of any ministry, you can defer your draft until you complete your studies. If you have or are associated with any occupation that promotes national health, safety, or interest or is related to war promotion or in agriculture, you can defer your draft permanently. If you are a minister at any ministry or if you are an elected and/or public official, you are exempted from being drafted. If you are here on a student visa or work visa, you are exempt from being drafted and if you have dual citizenship, you can be exempted but it depends on American foreign relations with the country you hold another citizenship. If you are currently incarcerated or have a criminal felony record, you are ineligible for the draft. If you are hospitalized or institutionalized (physically or mentally), you are exempted from being drafted. If you are a conscientious objector(publicly oppose war of any kind) for personal or religious reasons, you can permanently defer being drafted.
The Draft Lottery System
Finally, I would like to state that the draft works on a basis of a national lottery in which birthdays are chosen. If your birthday falls on the chosen date, then you are chosen.
If it is ever needed and implemented, a present-day draft would have similarities to that of the Vietnam War. Here's how it would work.
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The Selective Service System says it most likely would hold a draft lottery based on dates of birth. The number 1 would correspond to Jan. 1, 15 to Jan. 15, etc. Officials would draw numbers similar to drawing numbers for a lottery. If your birthdate is the first one drawn, you are the first to be drafted.
Normally, officials have a cutoff number based on the needs of the military. For example, during the 1969 draft lottery, men born between Jan. 1, 1944, and Dec, 31, 1950, were eligible to be drafted for the following year, 1970. Of the 366 possible birthdays in those years (leap years included), 195 birth dates were called for possible induction. That meant more than half the men born during those years were subject to being drafted. If your birthday wasn't one of the first 195 drawn, you were lucky -- you didn't have to go.
The second draft lottery, on July 1, 1970, was for men born in 1951. For that year 125 out of 365 possible birthdays were conscripted. The third Vietnam draft lottery was on Aug. 5, 1971, for men born in 1952; in that year, 95 birthdays were called up for compulsory service.
According to the selective service, if a draft were held today, those who are 20 years old -- or turning 20 during the year in which the numbers are drawn -- would be the first to go. Beginning Jan. 1 of the year an eligible male turns 21, he would drop into the second priority category, and men born the following year would move into the priority group one. Each succeeding year, a draft eligible man drops into the next lower priority group until he has reached his 26th birthday, at which time he is over the age of liability for the draft.
Draft Evasion and Conscientious Objectors
If you lack legal means to avoid the draft, you could just not show up for your ordered military service, you could "dodge" your service requirement. During the Vietnam War, approximately 570,000 people were classified as draft dodger, after not reporting for induction as ordered. Of those, 210,000 were charged formally with violating the draft, but only 3,250 were jailed. Of course, this was in the pre-computer and internet era; now, it's not quite so easy to be a fugitive from the feds. You could leave the country if drafted, like nearly 100,000 did during the Vietnam era. Those men were offered amnesty by President Gerald Ford in 1974 and pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Conscientious objectors are required to register. A conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles.
Historical Context: Student Deferments
Before Congress reformed the draft in 1971, a man could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress in virtually any field of study. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. Before 1971, state and local boards used a “quota system” under which they assigned a certain number of men to the draft. Before the lottery was implemented in the latter part of the Vietnam conflict, there was no system in place to determine order of call besides the fact that men between the ages of 18 and 26 were vulnerable to being drafted. Local boards called men classified 1-A, 18-1/2 through 25 years old, oldest first. This lack of a system resulted in uncertainty for the potential draftees during the entire time they were within the draft-eligible age group. A draft held today would use a lottery system under which a man would spend only one year in first priority for the draft-either the calendar year he turned 20 or the year his deferment ended, whichever came first. Each year after that, he would be placed in a succeedingly lower priority group and his liability for the draft would lessen accordingly. Before 1971, a draftee was not guaranteed this right, and so some decisions about whether a man would be drafted were made based on paperwork.
During the Vietnam War, college students were initially allowed deferments, essentially a postponement of service, for as long as they were enrolled in college. The rules changed partway through the war, and students could only defer until the end of the current semester (or, if it was their senior year, until the end of the school year).
The Likelihood of a Draft
While the possibility of being drafted while attending college might seem unsettling, it's important to note that mandatory military drafts have not been used in the United States since 1973, having been replaced by an all-volunteer military force.
The draft is a contingency plan which means it is the United States’ last resort if the military ever gets overwhelmed or short on numbers during and only during a war directly against the United States and their interests and territories. Keep in mind, the United States ranks first in the world in military strength and technological advantage. We rival Russia for the number one spot in the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and the United States spends more on the military than Russia, China and India, combined. isn’t even involved in.
But again, the chances of a draft being implemented today are currently incredibly low.
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