Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 07:41:55 -0400 From: Unka Bart <mendicant-AT-buddhist.com> Subject: Re: Dodgin' the draft > I can vaguely remember the topic of draft comming up a while back, >but I'm not sure if it really happened, so here I go. I recently turned >18 and was told that I need to sign up for the draft. I was just >wondering how they know if you don't sign up for the draft, and if they >know when it is time for you to sign up for the draft, why the hell do >you ever have to sign up? Do they take away SS benefits or something >lame like that? I know the context that I brought this subject up in >makes it slightly off topic, but I don't really care. Any help would be >appreciated though. Ryan Hi Ryan, This is an entirely US-related post, all others feel free to zap it now. The law requiring regisrtration is still in force. As to how they could know, I give you two concepts: Social Security Number, and Computers. As to the consequences of failing to register, well, frankly that remains to be seen. My advice would be to register, as there is currently no draft and the things you mention, while serious, barely scratch the surface of the list of things an angry Uncle Sammy can come up with. But: I suspect that there will be a draft re-instituted in the next 5 years, and maybe sooner. If you read the newspapers, the trends argue strongly for this, and for it happening sooner than later. The armed forces are failing to recruit enough warm bodies to maintain minimum strength levels for the current force and the recruiting trends are steeply downward. This is a matter of great and grave concern at all levels from the individual services (army, navy, air-force, etc.) to the white house. At the same time, we have a prez who feels inadequate (much, in the same way as our poster-boy for inadequacy, the lovely Mark S. Weiss feels) because he didn't go to war with the rest of his generation when he had a chance, is using those same armed forces all over the globe to "project" us POWER. (we all wait, *briefly,* for Mark S. Weiss's woody to go down...) Lots of folks will give you loads of reasons not to register. As you make up your own mind, remember that it's your ass, sling-wise, that's at risk here. And if you do decide to register, and the draft is re-instated as I believe is inevitable, there are many ways to beat it, and many sources of that kind of info here, should you need it. Yer Kindly Ol' Unka Bart
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