Is it worth it for me to continue?

*edit* It is done :f4:


For some reason or another I've refused to register with Selective Service, this prevents me from getting certain government benefits like FASFA and in my state a Driver's License/ID. I would have been willing to keep this if I had been more successful in getting a job but here I am... 20, jobless, and living with my Grandma.

I'm starting to have second thoughts about my decision and I've been thinking that I should join the military or something but that's not what I want to do in life.

Obviously you're going to need to register for it if you want to drive, and not saying you're gonna need to "so you can succeed" but it's damn hard to do anything without a reliable form of transport. Registering for selective service doesn't say you're going to be part of the military, but it's your duty to your country. And I honestly thought it was illegal to not register for the draft once you were 18?

?
I was under that impression as well. I had to register within a week of turning 18.

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Originally Posted by Tay

And I honestly thought it was illegal to not register for the draft once you were 18?

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It is, hence his array of problems. I highly recommend that you don't post comments like this for all kinds of obvious reasons. Declaring that you refuse to sign up for Selective Service is a really stupid form of protest. There are any number of ways to get an exemption if you find serving in the armed forces to go against your religious/moral beliefs. In any case, ignoring the problem will only make it much much worse over time.

Refusing to sign will preclude you from applying/receiving many types of jobs regardless of whether or not you chose to join the military at some time.

IMO just sign the paper.

I'm not sure where you're getting at with your logic. Just because you sign up for the selective service doesn't mean you join the military or get drafted. There hasn't been a draft since the 1960s, iirc.

Maybe it's just a Virginian thing, but I never had to register for the Selective Service, either. I remember my brother and sister having to do it, but they're a few years older than I am. Things must've changed over the past 5 years or so, since I turned 18. I never got a letter or anything in the mail asking to sign up for it. However, if it's preventing you from doing all of that, it sounds like you should go sign up for it.

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Originally Posted by Locked

I'm not sure where you're getting at with your logic. Just because you sign up for the selective service doesn't mean you join the military or get drafted. There hasn't been a draft since the 1960s, iirc.

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Not to mention, it was stated that they would never do another draft. Of course, one can never truly trust what the government says, but who knows...

On a related note, I turn 18 tomorrow and received a letter about the selective service today. All I gotta do is sign that wallet slip correct? The only other thing I could have signed was an information change form. My parents are rather unhelpful on this point as they have never had to sign anything related to military service. They were born at times where they were exempted from this sort of thing.

OT: I personally see no reason not to sign it for reasons you've stated and others stated.

My dad claims the last draft was Vietnam (that he remembers). He says he was about 14 when that draft ended and about 16 when some other draft deals ended exempting him from ever having to go through a draft.

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Originally Posted by JPTheMonkey

On a related note, I turn 18 tomorrow and received a letter about the selective service today. All I gotta do is sign that wallet slip correct?

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Or do it online like I did because Im a lazy bastard and dont like walking to my mailbox.

Let's make this clear:

As a United States citizen (and especially male citizens 18-26 years old), you are obliged to register for the Selective Service. Signing up with the SSS is one of your obligations, duties, and responsibilities as a United States citizen, and shying away from it isn't going to help. You probably already know that there's federal laws in place to ensure that young adults receiving anything from the government has to be registered with the Selective Service in order to receive those benefits.

Also, like everyone said, this is a fact: There has not been a draft since the Vietnam War. And unless U.S. presidents have a VERY good reason to activate the draft (ex: our nation is being threatened with invasion), it would be political suicide to activate the draft for no good effing reason. In other words, its very unlikely that you're going to be drafted in this current time and day.

End of story.

tl;dr - Just register. Don't skirt off your responsibilities and duties as a United States citizen. Plus its unlikely you're going to get drafted anyways.

Selective service just means you're eligible..I'm not sure they'll go out of their way to select someone most likely to go AWOL.

Register and during the registration you can make note of being a conscientious objector

And if they do restart the draft, then just,

Walk right into the shrink wherever you are and say "Shrink? You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant" and walk out.

And if one person, just one person, does it, they'll think he's really sick and they won't take him.

And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both papayagots and they won't take either of them.

And if three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking insingin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out? They may think it's an
organization.

And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out? And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

With feeling.

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Originally Posted by Tay

but it's your duty to your country.

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If the war comes to American soil I will stand up and I will fight but this whole overseas business what is it?

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And I honestly thought it was illegal to not register for the draft once you were 18?

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It is, if the government should choose to take action I could go to jail.

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Originally Posted by shouri

Register and during the registration you can make note of being a conscientious objector

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Here in the U.S you can only apply for C.O status if you're called in for service, they can turn you down, and they don't exactly tell you that you can apply when you're notified. There's also a deadline but basically they make it difficult to get C.O status.

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Originally Posted by Nomad9375

If the war comes to American soil I will stand up and I will fight but this whole overseas business what is it?

It is [illegal], if the government should choose to take action I could go to jail.

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I don't understand why get in trouble with the law unnecessarily.
Go register, get yourself squared out.

IF a draft is called
AND you are selected
AND you disagree with the draft's reasons
AND you are not exempt for reasons of age, occupation, health, etc
THEN don't show up and possibly go to jail.

With the way technology is used in war today, I don't see any reason that a draft would be necessary anymore.

Even if we are at that kind of point, it's probably a situation where most people would want to anyhow, thus rendering the draft pointless.

tl;dr stop worrying about it, go sign up. give yourself a better life.

Ignoring the fact that selective service is both retarded and sexist, just sign up for it. You're never going to be drafted and there's no one sitting there admiring your one-man protest. You're just making life harder for yourself for no reason.

I can't believe such a stupid system exists.

Honestly never heard of this before, and it makes me glad I live in the UK.
These days, so many people (Majority being people who can't get jobs, though obviously there are some who's dream is to be in the military) voluntarily sign up for military services, that the chances of them ever needing to do another draft is very low.

I think you should just sign the paper. You are needlessly putting yourself at risk of going to jail, which is just silly in my opinion. Plus, everyone else has had to do it, so just man up and get it over with, then enjoy your benefits.