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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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