Great LTTE re: draft in Dallas Morning News today

Check THIS out:

Draft boards ready
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/101004dneditlet.70849.html

Until recently, the law requiring young men to register with the Selective Service System seemed like an insurance policy – one that is wise to have but that you hope you never have to use. With the military stretched thin and facing recruiting and retention challenges, the possibility of having to use the draft seems more likely.

The same law that requires youths to register also established procedures for drafting people. But the rules are different than they were during the Vietnam era. This time the rules that allowed Vice President Dick Cheney to get student deferments don't exist. College seniors would finish the current school year; others would be deferred only until the end of the current semester.

If Congress activates the draft, then 20-year-old men would be called first. A lottery, by birth date as during the Vietnam draft, would be used to determine the sequence within each year. If there are not enough 20-year-olds in a year, then 21-year-olds would be called next, followed by those aged 22, 23, 24, 25, 19 and finally 18. Individual deferment requests could be heard by local boards.

Twenty-year-old men could start receiving orders to report for an armed forces examination within about two weeks of a draft being instituted.


Bernard Mayoff, member,Local board 031,
Selective Service System,
Richardson