Become a Selective Service System Local Board Member

[Beaker]

http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sss092203.html

"...The Selective Service System wants to hear from men and women in the community who might be willing to serve as members of a local draft board.

Prospective Board Members must be citizens of the United States , at least 18 years old, and registered with the Selective Service (if male). Prospective Board Members may not be an employee of any law enforcement occupation, not be an active or retired member of the Armed Forces, and not have been convicted of any criminal offense..."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....why do you suppose they might be needing draft board members in the not too distant future????

any guesses??

[frank frankly]

1. if there is a draft, I will protest, work, and sleep

nothing else.

[alfredo]

2. But we will need moles

on the inside. If there is a draft, there needs to be someone there to fight for the working class.

[Guaranteed]

31. And vote

for the working class.

[La_Serpiente]

3. I am off to Brazil

if they reinstate the draft.

[alfredo]

4. That has been around for a few years.

I guess it takes some time to find perfect assholes to fill the posts.

I'd keep an eye out for the house, to see if any legislation is introduced. It would be something hidden deep in some appropriation bill.

[Beaker]

5. I found it linked on Buzzflash-

but nothing about a date.
Sorry if it's old news.

[Snazzy]

7. 092203

is in the url.

Plus the logo on the top sez: "us dept of defense news about the war the war on terrorism."

Seems to be recent.

[Guaranteed]

32. They'd introduce it in the House first?

Not the Senate?

[goobergunch]

35. Yes

Most bills are first introduced in the House.

[goobergunch]

34. Legislation on appropriations is prohibited (n/t)

[bluestateguy]

6. I would have an agenda

I would let honest CO's go, but white, well to do, chickenhawk Republicans who came before me with excuses (Zit on their ass, too fat, "other priorities", etc.), I would make sure that such people were packed up and shipped out to the front lines ASAP.

[Nottingham]

8. This is truly scary! It looks like we are preparing for a war

:bounce:

[DiverDave]

9. I have said for

awhile now that they HAVE to bring back the draft.
The guard and reserve units cannot fulfill the PNAC prophacy.
Cannon fodder for the rich and heartless is what it is.
I post on another board that has alot of draft age guys (CRX Resource)
and they all just tell me I'm nuts...
I posted this link over there...

[MattNC]

11. have to?

you're crazy if you think draftees can fulfill the PNAC prophecy. as i've professed on this board many a times, there's absolutely no need to bring back the draft -- even Rumsfeld has said so. And even if there were a need for many more soldiers immediately, you'd see a major campaign drive for more volunteers and benefits greatly increased for those who do so. The U.S' volunteer armed forces has been a major success and anyone who thinks our current high-tech forces will succeed with a bunch of draftees who don't want to be there is just plain wrong.

[DiverDave]

13. Ever heard the term

"Cannon Fodder"?
The reserves and guard units cannot do it NOW, what about when they take Syria and Iran?
They will not give 2 shits if the recruits are "high tech"
How much "High tech" do you need to know to shoot a rifle?
And besides WHY are they filling draft board slots if rummy don't need a draft?
And lets not talk about the cuts to the service guys. More money...right

[MattNC]

18. there is no reason

to believe we're going to be attacking Syria or Iran. Most people on this board will keep to their PNAC global domination fantasies but there's no reason to believe it's going to happen.

you can dis my "high tech" argument if you want to but we're a professional army now and recruits train for months if not a year or two of training following basic in order to serve in the modern armed forces. bringing in draftees to "shoot a rifle" just isn't something needed.

the only possible reason i could ever see a draft coming back would be for draftees to act as replacements for current occupying forces but even that's a stretch.

and as to why filling draft board slots? selective services is always planning for the possibility of a draft, that's no big secret. by mainting an active selective services, draft implementation could occur within about a month or two of Congressional passage - not a year like previous times.

[atreides1]

33. But....

...if there's no way that they will be drafting people, why would they need board members.

I've got some bad news for you, it does not take that long to train an infantryman. As it is right now most military training runs from
12 to 52 weeks, and humping a rifle is one of the shorter training cycles.

You see here's the formula, you create the top cadre from NG and Reserve units, then you start to train the "cannon fodder". This is the same method that was used during both WWII and the Korean War.

The interest is not in "High Tech" training, it's in providing bodies for use in the theater of operations.

I have a question for you, do you set policy at the Pentagon. If you don't then maybe you might want to do some research to back up your theory.

Our "High Tech" military is losing 3 to 6 soldiers killed every week,
and at least 3 times that number wounded, and their just fighting guerillas and terrorists.

You state that the possible attack of Syria or Iran is a fantasy, I hate to burst your bubble, but if you look around what other direction does ShrubCo have to go towards. The fantasy is in your mind that the current administration really gives rat spit about the troops. This is being disproven every day, from axing money for Veterans to ordering no honors shown to the dead that our returned.

If you want to hide your head in the sand then so bo it. As for myself I'll just be prepared.

[Trek234]

36. "even Rumsfeld has said so"

Well then it MUST be true.

[geekgirl]

10. I just requested the application kit

I think that we need some of us on the inside to get information.

[newyawker99]

26. Hi geekgirl!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[DivinBreuvage]

12. How do you think they will work it? Some draft scenarios

I've heard it said that government officials have promised (for what that's worth!) that the US will never again enact a Vietnam-era draft system in which there are so many ways for people who have money or connections to get exempted. But at the same time, I tend to agree with the posters here who believe a draft would be political suicide for the Right Wing.

Here are a few scenarios I can foresee. I'd be interested in your opininions:

1) rather than a real draft, they go to the prisons to offer release in exchange for military service. I know nothing about military operations but from the numbers I've seen thrown around I'd assume that they'd have to get at least 25-30% of the prison population (BBC puts it at just over 2 million) to launch another Iraq-style invasion (to say nothing of any repercussions from people assuming that murderers and rapists were being released, or maybe most people just wouldn't care if it was getting new bodies for the War on Terror).

2) some method based on demographics whereby they cull mainly from "blue" areas in an attempt to minimize the number of republican families affected. For instance: "California and New York have higher populations than Wyoming or Utah so we're going to pull a lot more from the first two; and in every state we'll pull the biggest numbers from urban areas since they're the largest centers of population." I suppose they could even try to work out a method to avoid Republican concentrations within the cities without appearing to do so, but even if not, drafting a few dozen Republicans out of Cleveland wouldn't matter much to all the red-blooded patriots in the Buckeye Confederacy who don't have to go.

3) a fair draft across the board based on your birthday or social security number or however they do it.

It seems to me that number 2) is the way for them to go. Democrats and African-Americans would be hardest hit, and they'd complain, but certainly the government would turn a deaf ear and I suppose the majority of the exempted population would as well since the issue could be framed in terms of liberals and "inner city" folks trying to shirk their patriotic duty; and in any event many people who don't have to worry about something aren't going to care that much about the troubles of people who do. Then Tom Daschle and Joe Lieberman would come on stage and talk about how all Americans need to do their bit and we should all just quite complaining and go along.

Françoise

[Beaker]

16. They're still hoping that the crappy economy will boost enlistment.

That's how they accomplish your second scenario without actually instituting a draft. Make the economy pitifully bad, especially in urban(i.e. "black") areas, and cut back on college assistance grants/loans while tuitions keep skyrocketing, and leave the kids coming out of school with no better option than to "join up".

I don't see them going with your first option, offering early release for military service...too French. With the neo-cons, serving your country is supposed to be seen as an honor, not a punishment.

the way they've conducted them in the past, and probably will in the future as well, is more like your option #3. Through a lottery, they randomly assign the numbers 1-365 to each day of the year, with the people being born on the day designated as "1" being the first to get called up, and those born on "365" being the last.

[bobbieinok]

17. what about the 50s option to arrested young men...

go to jail or enlist in the military?

I know people who think this was a very good program....It rid the town of 'troublemakers,' 'straightened the kids out,' and helped create a 'strong military.'

It also scared other young men into 'behaving.'

[Beaker]

23. I could see it being used as a 'plea-bargain' deal-

for misdemeanor type offenses, possibly even some non-violent felonies...but I don't see it being offered as an option to convicted criminals.

[shanti]

30. shoot, this trick didn't end in the 50's

i know someone who was given a choice of jail/military in the 70's. it's probably STILL going on in some areas.

[bleedingheart]

14. no thank you...wouldn't be able to sleep at night

I can't imagine selecting people for a draft...

[Nlighten1]

15. You can't work on this board if you were an active or retired member ...

of the military?




:wtf:


On edit I mis-read this. You can't be currently on active duty in the military.

[oneighty]

20. Or retired military

They do not want an experienced military person sending the priviliged rich kids off to war.

180

[jody]

24. I have written my senators and congressman protesting the administrative

decision to prohibit "retired military" from serving on a draft board.

I encourage others to do the same. :bounce:

[Loonman]

19. Women should not work on draft board unless they are draft-eligible

Equality.

[oneighty]

21. Whoooo Hoooo

180

[tom_paine]

22. Once the 2004 Stalinist Farce of an "election" is over

and Lame-Duck Fuhrer Bunnypants* has been proclaimed, we will very liekly see one or all of these developments in short order...

Draft
National ID Card
End of Posse Commitatus
PATRIOT II: Drowning the Bill of Rights in a bathtub

Have fun, Imperial Amerika. Have fun...

[MUAD_DIB]

25. I'll do it!

Just as long as I can decide who gets drafted.

Let's see, firstly every corporated president, CEO, news personality or politician has to give up their kids (or grandkids) before anyone else.

Those kids won't be able to get deferments, rank or priveledge. They will be grunts just like everybody else.

They will be first into battle and first to fall: being the red-blooded Americans that they are. Their country will mourn their passing with their very own monument in Washington in years to come.


Maybe if these were the rules the morans in Washington would think twice about any draft board. I would no more want to see their kids die than anyone else's.

[tom_paine]

27. You sound like one of my heores, Gen. Smedley Butler

who turned in the "Busheviks" back in 1933 when they tried to get FDR to "retire" so they could appoint a military dictator like Granpda Prescott's business partners did in 1933 Germany.

http://www.korpios.org/resurgent/Coup.htm

Check him out, he was the guy who said, "War is a racket."

http://www.isp.nwu.edu/~fprefect/politics/salvage/smedley.html

[WillyT]

28. I'm Tellin Ya...

We need to get a meme and some bumber-stickers going, that say something to the effect of:

"You want to see the reinstatement of the military draft?
Re-elect George W. Bush!"

And yes... This time, use the phrase\word 're-elect'!!!

:grr::nuke::mad:

[AndyTiedye]

37. or this way

REsELECT

[Best_man23]

29. Any Chickenhawk repugs come in

They would go, with either 11B on their paperwork for Army or 0311 for those headed to the Marines.

Attn Freepers: If you're thinking about joining the war on Terra, be sure to enlist in the Army or Marines and, absolutely, be sure to request either 11B (Army) or 0311 (Marines).