Rumors of a MANDATORY MILITARY DRAFT (for men and women aged 18-26) are going around here in the US. What do you guys think? Any chance of this actually pushing through?

Last I heard, there are pending bills that have been introduced in 2003 to reinstate the draft. These are S 89 and HR 163. I do not know if these bills are still alive.

Here's the CNN report:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/07/rangel.draft/

The mandatory military draft is highly unlikely to happen right now in the states. You should also think about the near election. What would it do to the incumbent if this would pursue? Besides my government professor told me that after the war on Vietnam the American masses are divided on most issues about war.

Think  Democrats = West and East coast. Republicans = Middle America.

If this would pass riots and protest would highly assume. I saw a show in cable where they hire military men mostly in rural Middle America in hope of getting the “benefit”.

 Free tuition after serving for 4 years and other like free housing or the military will help pay for the house I think.

Anyway Malabo pa ata ngayon so mo worries….

Here is a supposed rumor regarding the military draft. It has been spreading via email. It says it may be in effect by June 2005.

I don't think it's pushing through (and if it did, I probably wouldn't physically qualify) but you'll never know what the Bush administration is up to (should he win the upcoming elections)...

LET'S GO JOHN KERRY!

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The Draft Is Coming Back

From
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/draftreturning14apr04.shtml
April 14, 2004

Date: 14 Apr 2004
Subject: The Draft Is Coming Back! (For boys and girls age 18--26)
From:

Become active on this one, the lives you save may be your sons and daughters or grandkids. Share this with everyone.

THE DRAFT IS COMING BACK!

If there are children in your family, READ this. There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately. Details and links follow.

Even those voters who currently support us. Actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft


Also, crossing into Canada has already been made very difficult. Actions, actions, actions: Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents.... And let your children know -- it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!

Please also write to your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills -- and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.

The draft $28 million has been added to the 2004 selective service system (sss) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan - fiscal year 2004.


The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm


Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/national/...s89/default.asp entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.


Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.

WHAT TO DO:
- Tell all your friends
- Contact your media
- Contact your Senators and tell them to oppose these bills.

For the full list of representatives (53) and websites, go to:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/...te=ctc&state=ca

We just can't sit and pretend that by ignoring it, it will go away. We must voice our concerns and create the world we want to live in for our children and their children's children. Submitted by Sophie Lapaire

In addition to the above suggestions of what to do, consider also sending this information to local newspapers, colleges and high schools. Unless of course you want your children, grandchildren both girls -- yes girls -- and boys to be drafted.

May God be glorified in each of our lives!

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do."

oh please don't! if it pushes through, those useless TNTs are going to come flying back to the philippines, just like in the first gulf war.

hehehehehe....who's afraid of the draft???? i'm untouchable. 4 years active and 4 years reserve under my belt--it's the young buck's turn. Kidding aside, the draft is not going to happen for there is already a draft--remember the selective service form you completed? if you are registered, you are bound to serve if called upon unless you are a 4F.
the draft by the way has the strongest support from a Democrat--Charles Rangel of NYC. of course his argument is that poorer kids are lifting the burden of service than the well-off kids disproportionately. Another classic democrat class-warfare bull$hit argument.
nothing beats an all-volunteer armed forces...plus you don't want a forced yellow knuckle head in the trenches with you. the dems are also underestimating that there are ENOUGH Americans who actually are willing to serve.
the draft is a remote scenario...it will take the wiping out of half amerca's armed forces to institute that lame idea.

no to draft....volunteers kick a$$!

The above statement also reminded me of my friends shocked reaction when he was given a notice by the government urging him to go to the military...he was really shocked and mad at the same time. It was during the peak of the war on Iraq. Anyway he called some office telling them that he was the only son of the family or something and that he shouldn't be included in the list. Well some guy that I know during my sophomore year in HS is now in Iraq.

i wouldn't mind getting drafted. the only reason i haven't joined the american military is that i have a heart condition, but if the draft falls through, **** it. it's time to punish the wicked, the killers of the innocents, the rebels with unreasonable demands and insane ways to get their demands.

I don't think that they would take you in. There is a very strong chance that you'd be rejected after the physical is conducted.

Drafting is less likely to happen at this time. There are still a lot of regulars, reservists and National Guard troops to go around. They are, in fact, being rotated.

To conscientious objectors and yellow bellies: do not worry, the mandatory draft bills have been shot down in congress. Thank my Republican cohorts in both houses for they effectively voted-down this silly idea. The democrats, who introduced two bills on the subject, dangled this issue to link it with the Bush Administration as a tactical november election ploy. But when Republican lawmakers called the bluff, it's water under the bridge. Nice try dems.

I reiterate the point -- THE MILITARY DRAFT IS A DEMOCRAT'S IDEA. Let's be more astute w/ our political observations here. Just because GW pushed for the war, it doesn't mean he'll push for the draft.