Like most American males, I registered for the draft when I turned 18, seventeen years ago. If a war was declared and they needed lots more soldiers, would they draft from the youngest to oldest, or across the spectrum of ages? Is there a cut-off age?
Let the Truth of Love be lighted/ Let the Love of Truth shine clear. Sensibility/ Armed with sense and liberty
With the Heart and Mind united in a single/ Perfect/ Sphere. - Rush
IIRC, the draft only applies to American males between the ages of 18 and 25, inclusive. Draftees are chosen in a lottery – a particular range of birth dates is drawn from within the eligible range, and all the guys who were born in that period must go down to the local induction center and be tested for fitness for duty. If you’re fit, you’re in the club . If not, you have to stay home with the non-combatant women. Gee, what a humiliation. :rolleyes:
–Da Cap’n
“Playin’ solitaire 'til dawn
With a deck of fifty-one.”
I’m pretty sure the cutoff date is 25. I turned 25 around the time the Gulf War was going on. By that time, the Selective Service sent me a letter saying that I had never registered, but it didn’t really matter now.
For the record, I had registered when I was 18, but the government lost my record.
Also bumped into this little nugget at that website (in case you needed to know):
IIRC, prior to the 1971 changes in the Selective Service Act, draft age could extend to 42. I really couldn’t find anything on that, but I have second hand knowledge of a 40 year old drafted during WW II; also visit Ursa’s post in World War II Draft.
I got a surprise a year after I had just finished a six year hitch in the navy, I was denied a student loan because I had not registered for selective service. This came as a shock because after serving a full six years I had no reserve obligation and could not be called up even if a shooting war started. The selective service people were very nice about it as thousands of guys were in the same situation, ignorant of the obligation to register after being discharged. I was able to register with no penalty and get my student loan.
I applied on my 18th birthday (10/28/82), because I needed proof that I had to get a Work/Study grant for the next semester. I didn’t get any notice until December, when Selective Service said I didn’t need to register because I was only 13.
It seems that they thought the “4” in “1964” was a nine. You think they could’ve used a little logic:[list=1][li]They’re getting hundreds of cards from males born in 1964, but here’s one born in 1969? Hmmm…[/li][li]“Hey, Fred, is this a 4 or a 9?”[/li][li]Look up my SSN and see that it was issued in 1964.[/list=1][/li]
No, instead they don’t register me, and I have to wait another semester to get an on-campus job (and keep my crappy minimum wage job at Wendy’s).
I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright
I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush