SEQUENCE OF EVENTS Here is a brief overview of what would occur if the United States returned to a draft: 1. CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT AUTHORIZE A DRAFT A crisis occurs which requires more troops than the volunteer military can supply. Congress passes and the President signs legislation which starts a draft. 2. THE LOTTERY A lottery based on birthdays determines the order in which registered men are called up by Selective Service. The first to be called, in a sequence determined by the lottery, will be men whose 20th birthday falls during that year, followed, if needed, by those aged 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. 18-year-olds and those turning 19 would probably not be drafted. 3. ALL PARTS OF SELECTIVE SERVICE ARE ACTIVATED The Agency activates and orders its State Directors and Reserve Forces Officers to report for duty. See also Agency Structure. 4. PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND MORAL EVALUATION OF REGISTRANTS Registrants with low lottery numbers are ordered to report for a physical, mental, and moral evaluation at a Military Entrance Processing Station to determine whether they are fit for military service. Once he is notified of the results of the evaluation, a registrant will be given 10 days to file a claim for exemption, postponement, or deferment. See also Classifications. 5. LOCAL AND APPEAL BOARDS ACTIVATED AND INDUCTION NOTICES SENT Local and Appeal Boards will process registrant claims. Those who pass the military evaluation will receive induction orders. An inductee will have 10 days to report to a local Military Entrance Processing Station for induction. 6. FIRST DRAFTEES ARE INDUCTED According to current plans, Selective Service must deliver the first inductees to the military within 193 days from the onset of a crisis. http://www.sss.gov/seq.htm
"Only Sons" and the draft Contrary to popular belief, "only sons," "the last son to carry the family name," and "sole surviving sons" must register and they can be drafted. However, they may be entitled to a peacetime deferment if there is a military death in the immediate family. Provisions regarding the survivors of veterans were written into Selective Service law after World War II. Details have varied over the years, but the basic premise remains the same; where a family member has been lost as a result of military service, the remaining family members should be protected insofar as possible. It is important to keep in mind that the provisions are directly related to service-connected deaths. The mere fact that a man is the only child or only son does not qualify him for exemption - he must be the survivor of one who died as a result of military service. The present law provides a peacetime exemption for anyone whose parent or sibling was killed in action, died in line of duty, or died later as a result of disease or injury incurred in line of duty while serving in the armed forces of the United States. Also included are those whose parent or sibling is in a captured or missing status as a result of service in the armed forces during any period of time. This is known as the "surviving son or brother" provision. A man does not have to be the only surviving son in order to qualify; if there are four sons in a family and one dies in the line of duty, the remaining three would qualify for surviving son or brother status under the present law. The surviving son or brother provision is applicable only in peacetime. It does not apply in time of war or national emergency declared by the Congress. The original law, passed in 1948, exempted the sole surviving son of a family where one or more sons or daughters died as a result of military service. No restriction existed at that time to limit the exemption to peacetime. The provision was intended to protect families which had lost a member in World War II. In 1964, recognizing that sons of World War II veterans were reaching draft age, Congress changed the law to include the sole surviving son of a family where the father, or one or more sons or daughters, died as a result of military service. At this time the peacetime-only restriction was also added to the law. A further change was made in 1971, expanding the exemption to any son, not necessarily the sole surviving son, of a family where the father, brother or sister died as a result of military service. This provision was recently expanded to include mothers. http://www.sss.gov/FSsurviv.htm
A 5 on the ASVAB and fluency in Farsi will get me off of the front lines if anything happens... If Scotland Yard(Project AJAX anyone?) gets what it wants, we'll be reading these things with better scrutiny, I imagine.
