The Selective Service System , otherwise known as the draft or conscription, requires almost all male U. You may have seen the question, "Have you registered for the selective service" on applications for jobs, driver's licenses, student aid and more.
But could you actually get called up into the military? Here's everything you need to know about the draft. The draft is officially known as the selective service.
The selective service is a government bureau separate from the Defense Department whose mission statement is: "To register men and maintain a system that, when authorized by the President and Congress, rapidly provides personnel in a fair and equitable manner while managing an alternative service program for conscientious objectors.
Basically, this means that if we ever have a national emergency or war that the all-volunteer military can't adequately support, Congress and the president can reinstate the draft and force male citizens to serve in the military.
While women have not been excluded from combat service since , they currently are not required to register for the draft. The law as it's written now refers specifically to "male persons" in stating who must register and who would be drafted. For women to be required to register with the selective service, Congress would have to change the law.
Legally, you could be in a lot of trouble if you don't register: It's a felony. However, no one has been prosecuted for the crime since But that doesn't mean you won't have problems. If you fail to register for the draft by the time you turn 26, you are no longer able to do so. Then, if you apply for any government benefits at any time after that, you quite possibly will be denied. No student aid, government job, etc. Government statistics suggest that more than 1 million men have been denied some government benefits because they weren't registered for the draft.
An appeal to get those benefits can be costly and time-consuming. In , the Selective Service System turned over nearly , names and addresses of people who had failed to register for the draft to the Department of Justice for computer matching. See 50 U. Men 26 and Older. Failure to register is a felony and non-registrants may be denied the following benefits for life: State-based student loans and grant programs in 31 states Federal job training under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act formerly Workforce Investment Act Federal and many state and local jobs Up to a 5-year delay of U.
Virtually all men must register with Selective Service. The exceptions to this rule are very few and include: non-immigrant men on a valid student, visitor, tourist, or diplomatic visas; men on active duty in the U. Armed Forces; and cadets and midshipmen in the Service Academies and certain other U. All other men must register upon reaching age 18 or before age 26, if entering and taking up residence in the U.
National Archives at St. Box St. Louis, MO If you registered with your SSN, you can access your Selective Service number and date of registration online and print a copy for your records. If you do not have a SSN or did not provide one at the time of registration, please call us for further assistance at Our computer system does not allow any punctuation in the name fields.
Any punctuation provided will be replaced with a space. If your name is misspelled, indicate what the correct name should be. Sign and date a Change of Information form, which is the top portion of your Registration Acknowledgment letter, and return it to Selective Service.
If you have legally changed your name, indicate the new name, provide a copy of the court order for your legal name change as supporting documentation, sign and date the form, and return it to Selective Service. If the month or day in your date of birth is listed incorrectly, indicate the correct date of birth, sign and date the form and return it to Selective Service. If the year of birth is incorrect, indicate the correct year of birth on the form, provide a copy of any official documentation with the correct year of birth, sign and date, and return it to Selective Service.
If you need to correct or provide your social security number, please call Selective Service at , between a. NOTE: Corrections will take weeks to process, after which you will be mailed a new acknowledgment card. Even though you may not be prosecuted, you may be denied student financial assistance, federal job training, and most federal employment unless you can provide convincing evidence to the agency providing the benefit not Selective Service that your failure to register was not knowing and willful, along with a copy of your SIL.
Frequently Asked Questions. Select a Category:. General Questions. I am applying for U. How do I get one? Learn More Letter for Men 31 or Older. Why aren't women required to register? I just got a reminder to register in the mail. How did you get my name and address? Why do we need Selective Service if there may never be another draft? When was registration reinstated? Is a military draft constitutional? How can I register? What is Selective Service registration?
What is the penalty for not registering? Last year, Selective Service referred , names and addresses of suspected violators to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. Still, only 20 men have been criminally charged with refusing to register for the draft since President Jimmy Carter reinstated it in in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Only 14 were convicted. The last indictment, in , was dismissed before it went to trial.
So now the system relies largely on voluntary compliance, a patchwork of state laws, and the risk of losing federal benefits. Congress passed two provisions to tighten enforcement in the s. The Solomon amendment in made Selective Service registration a requirement for federal student aid.
The Thurmond Amendment in did the same for federal employment. Forty states and the District of Columbia link Selective Service to a driver's license. But some of those allow men to opt out of registration, and about a quarter of Americans in their early 20s don't have a driver's license. Thirty-one states have legislation mirroring federal laws on student aid and employment, applying those bans to state-funded student aid programs and state employment. As a result, registration rates vary from percent in New Hampshire to 63 percent in North Dakota — and just 51 percent in the District of Columbia, according to Selective Service data.
Most men who register, register though secondary means when they apply for student aid or get a driver's license. There isn't a real deliberate education of people about the law.
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