# Selective Service and an immigrant family...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-service-and-an-immigrant-family/535214>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 6, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-service-and-an-immigrant-family/535214 "2010-04-06T23:29:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-service-and-an-immigrant-family/535214/21 "2010-04-10T06:11:30Z")

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> [@gitfiddle](#):
>
> Having lived in several countries quite different from my own, with languages quite different from mine (about as different as they come), I find it quite easy to believe that someone could have missed something like this. There are a huge number of factors that could lead to a family, who are settling in a place this foreign and trying keep up with the larger, more constant demands that daily life entails, to have missed something like signing up for selective service. Maybe that’s just me.

Yeah. I mean, a few weeks ago I got an important looking letter in Chinese with a huge stamp on it on my door. I put it in the “have a Chinese person tell me what this means” pile. But then it sat there for a while and I forgot about it. For all I know, it was telling me I’m about to be evicted. I’ve finally learned that when I get an call around 3:00 PM in Chinese, that means I have a package at the post office. Took me two years to figure out why people I don’t know are calling me in a rushed important way on random afternoons.

The truth is I only understand around 10% of what goes on around me, and I’m treading water just trying to keep up with the immediate stuff. And it’s hard to know what is important. For example, I’m pretty sure when I spend the night at a Chinese person’s house they are supposed to file a notice to the local police. But I have never heard of anyone actually doing that. Is this a major or minor law? I have no idea. For all I know, I could be on the verge of being hauled away for something I barely understand.

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**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-service-and-an-immigrant-family/535214/22 "2010-04-10T14:41:53Z")

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> [@Declan](#):
>
> In Toronto , I’ve seen the commercials for the selective service. During the Reagan presidency , they were on about every tenth commercial. This was on American channels.
> 
> Declan

I was 8 years old when Reagan left office; no surprise that, had I seen these commercials, I didn’t understand them. I may have just assumed it was like signing up for the reserves or something; a voluntary thing. Besides, it would have been directed at _boys_ so it had nothing to do with me!

Since then, though? I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t watch enough American TV (seems unlikely), or the CRTC replaced the Selective Service commercials with yet another add for H.Gregoire auto dealerships. I generally feel that my awareness of how the US “works” is fairly good, but I missed this entirely.

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