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Draft Registration: Steps Young People
Can Take (Download PDF fiile)
Explains the draft and the choices that young
people have as well as where to get more information. From the American
Friends Service Committee
Turning 18?
Questions
and Answers about Draft Registration
from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors
What the Law Says:
U.S. Selective Service System Official
Website
More
worthwhile links
Conscientious
Objector
A
poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay
(1892-1950)
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death.
I hear him leading his horse out of the stall; I hear the clatter on the
barn floor.
He is in haste; he has business in Cuba, business in the Balkans, many calls
to make this morning.
But I will not hold the bridle while he cinches the girth.
And he may mount by himself; I will not give him a leg up.
Though he flick my shoulders with his whip, I will not tell him which way
the fox ran.
With his hoof on my breast, I will not tell him where the black boy hides
in the swamp.
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death; I am not on his payroll.
I will not tell him the whereabouts of my friends, nor of my enemies either.
Though he promise me much, I will not map him the route to any man's door.
Am I a spy in the land of the living, that I should deliver men to Death?
Brother, the password and the plans of our city are safe with me; never through
me
Shall you be overcome
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You
probably already know.....
that if you're male and a U.S. citizen, you're legally required
to register with the Selective Service System (SSS), within thirty days before
or twenty-nine days after your 18th birthday. (If you're female you don't
have to register: in fact, you can't. Not that the military doesn't want
you -- recruiters have a special sales pitch just for women!) Most male U.S.
residents who aren't citizens are also required to register.
But you may not know.....
that in New York State, young men who apply for a driver's license or learner's permit
are consenting to be automatically registered with the Selective Service System
immediately or when they turn 18.
You need to know.....
once you are registered with the
Selective Service System, you become one of thousands of young men who could
be called to military service within weeks if the U.S. Congress were to institute
a draft (in other words, compulsory induction of eligible candidates into
United States military services).
When you register, you are not asked whether you might want to file for an
exemption. You can only do that if and when you are called in a draft.
But you can begin to keep records showing that you are a conscientious objector (CO), or thinking
about becoming one.
You also ought to know.....
- where
you stand on military service
- are you prepared to go to war if called upon
- are you willing to kill if necessary in a combat situation
- do you have any alternatives to military service, and
if so
- what are the alternatives
- what is a conscientious objector (CO)
- what does your religious faith teach about war
- if you're a parent, how you can prepare your child
for making the most important decision of his/her life
Find
the answers to these questions and more by following the links, beginning top left.
Or,
jump right in to a full exploration of:
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