If you do not register for draft...your future is iffy!

For a million U.S. men, failing to register for the draft has serious, long-term consequences

USA TODAY
Gregory Korte
April 2, 2019

On paper, it's a crime to "knowingly fail or neglect or refuse" to register for the draft. The penalty is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Last year, Selective Service referred 112,051 names and addresses of suspected violators to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Men who don't register for the draft by age 26 often have problems later in life with federal and state benefits

More than 1 million men have requested a formal confirmation of their draft status since 1993 The most common consequences for failing to register are a loss of student aid, citizenship, and federal employment

For 39 years, it's been a rite of passage for American men. Within 30 days of his 18th birthday, every male citizen and legal resident is required to register for Selective Service, either by filling out a postcard-size form or going online.

What's less well known is what happens on a man's 26th birthday.

Men who fail to register for the draft by then can no longer do so – forever closing the door to government benefits like student aid, a government job or even U.S. citizenship.

Men under 26 can get those benefits by taking advantage of what has effectively become an eight-year grace period, signing up for Selective Service on the spot.

After that, an appeal can be costly and time-consuming. Selective Service statistics suggest that more than 1 million men have been denied some government benefit because they weren't registered for the draft.

With the current male-only draft requirement declared unconstitutional, Congress will have to decide whether to eliminate Selective Service registration or expand it to women.
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Judge rules females should be drafted too!

Judge Rules Men-Only Military Draft Unconstitutional

The San Diego Union-Tribune
By Pauline Repard
24 Feb 2019

"Forcing only males to register is an aspect of socially institutionalized male disposability and helps reinforce the stereotypes that support discrimination against men in other areas" such as divorce, child custody and domestic violence services, Angelucci said.

Marine Corps poolees with Recruiting Substation Glen Burnie, Recruiting Station Baltimore take the oath of enlistment during the Military Bowl at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. (Raul Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)

A federal judge has ruled that a men-only draft is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women for military service.

The Houston judge sided with a San Diego men's advocacy group that challenged the government's practice of having only men sign up for the draft, citing sex discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment's equal protection clause.

"This case balances on the tension between the constitutionally enshrined power of Congress to raise armies and the constitutional mandate that no person be denied the equal protection of the law," wrote U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas.

The lawsuit was filed in 2013 against the Selective Service System by Texas resident James Lesmeister, who later added San Diego resident Anthony Davis and the San Diego-based National Coalition for Men as additional plaintiffs.

The two men had standing to sue the government because they were within the age range of 18 to 26 in which men in the United States are required to register with Selective Service.
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MOH Sammy Lee Davis Going Back To Nam

A war hero is going back to Nam and wants to talk
Indy Star
Will Higgins
May 27, 2016

The eventful life of Sammy Lee Davis takes yet another interesting turn next month when he does what tens of thousands of other Vietnam veterans have done: He will return to Vietnam.

"June 12," Davis said, "will be the first time I've been there since '68."

Davis' specific destination is Cai Lay, in the southern end of the country. There, on Nov. 18, 1967, he did something for which he received praise and glory but for which he also endured years of nightmares and inner turmoil.

"I don't know if 'closure' is the right word for it," Davis, 69, said. "I've learned you're not supposed to forget. You're supposed to remember. Your memories are like tools. You can use them to fix your life."

He had not been drafted into the Army. He had enlisted. Eighteen months after graduating from Mooresville High School he signed up.

About 270,000 Vietnam veterans would later suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, according to a 2015 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Davis was among them.

"I did crazy things," he said, declining to elaborate. Said his wife, Dixie: "Sammy still has moments."
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At an event with the Orlando Nam Knights, Sammy was the Guest of Honor and in this video, Sammy talks about what it was like coming home. It was a story I had not heard before. His Medal of Honor Citation is being read in between so that you know what he did before he came home and mistreated at the airport after getting out of the hospital.
In this one, Sammy and Dixie talk about making peace with all of it and not forgetting it.

Donald, "4 Deferment" Trump Doesn't Like POWs Because They Were Captured?

McCain is not well liked in the veteran community simply because of his record while serving in the Senate. (Too long of a story there) Still for Donald Trump to say "I like people that weren't captured, OK?" it is not ok because it means he just insulted all POWs in the process.

Trump questions McCain's bravery, says 'he is not a war hero'
CNN
By Mark Preston and Eugene Scott
July 18, 2015

According to The Smoking Gun, which obtained selective service records for Trump in 2011, he received four student deferments between 1964 and 1968, and later a medical deferment in 1968.

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump ignited a political firestorm Saturday by questioning whether Sen. John McCain -- who spent over five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War -- is a war hero.

"He is a war hero because he was captured," Trump said, cutting him off. "I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you. He is a war hero because he was captured. OK, you can have -- I believe perhaps he is a war hero."

By mid-afternoon, Trump tried to walk back his blunder on Twitter, saying "captured or not, all our soldiers are heroes!"

But his attempt at damage control seemed unlikely to diminish the anger his remarks had caused. They provoked an immediate outcry from his 2016 presidential rivals and the Republican National Committee, which has expressed concern about the impact his controversial remarks on immigration have had on the GOP brand.

For Republicans waiting to pounce on Trump and knock him from his position as the party's leading presidential candidate, the real estate mogul may have handed them an opening.
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Vietnam Veteran, drafted, ditched and deported died

Vietnam vet dies abroad, deported from the country he served
Hector Barrios: “I think it’s unjust to deport someone who fought for her… the United States.”
UPI News
By JC Sevcik
April 25, 2014

TIJUANA, Mexico, April 25 (UPI) -- Hector Barrios died this week.

It’s okay if you’ve never heard of him. You have no reason to know who he is.

The short version: Hector was a decorated U.S. veteran who died abroad, impoverished and estranged from the country he loved and served, with none of the benefits entitled to him as a veteran.

Barrios was born in Tijuana, Mexico. In 1961, at the age of 18, he moved to the United States. In 1967, at the age of 24, he was drafted into the U.S. military to do his part for the war effort. He did not go back to Mexico or hide out in Canada. He did not dodge the draft or evade the call to duty. Hector spent a year in Vietnam, fighting for his adopted country.

“Every day incoming fire, everything, fighting -- you didn’t know if you were going to come back home,” he says in an interview taken before his death.
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July Marks 40th Anniversary of All-volunteer Army

July Marks 40th Anniversary of All-volunteer Army
Army News Service
By Alex Dixon

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2013 – When newly elected President Richard M. Nixon directed the Department of Defense to create an all-volunteer force, Army leaders knew there would be some hurdles.

Instead of drafting young men to fill the ranks, the Army and the other armed services would need to spend money to ramp up recruiting efforts and portray military service as an attractive career choice.

By July 1, 1973 -- now 40 years ago -- the draft had been eliminated. But the Army started working on developing the all-volunteer force well before that.

In April 1971, Project VOLAR, for "volunteer Army," was implemented at select Army posts across the country. The project was an experiment designed to increase retention rates and morale among soldiers and attract those who would want to serve.

Army Sgt. Maj. Ray Moran, now retired, was assigned to the 1st Recruiting Brigade under VOLAR in 1971, at Fort Meade, Md., and said VOLAR brought about changes to life at the post.

Comfortable furniture soon filled the open-bay barracks, which were divided into sleeping rooms. Beer, once prohibited, became a popular beverage. And grooming standards relaxed. But Army leaders soon realized some changes caused more problems than they solved, and new initiatives began that focused on instilling professionalism and building pride for the Army.

Moran said he thinks the all-volunteer force initiative has proven a success -- and he was proud to have been part of it.

"We built a volunteer Army that really proved itself in Desert Storm," Moran said in a 2011 interview. "They were just a marvelous bunch of soldiers, and they have done it right through to Iraq and Afghanistan today. We are very proud of the all-volunteer Army."
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