Selective Service... is it constitutional???

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  • cowboywitek

    Marksman
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    Apr 12, 2010
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    Noblesville IN
    so I get home and what do I find in the mailbox???.... !@$#:xmad: a Selective Service letter. personally I dont even know why they send these things out? theres plenty of people going into the military... I mean are we really gonna have another "draft"? ahh, I dont know. they'll probably never call a draft while I'm alive (hopefully) so yeah getting to my question, does anybody know if it says anywhere in the Constitution about drafting or Selective Service? guess I would feel better about it if it was constitutionally correct... anyway I would appreciate some feedback. thanks.
    -TW
     

    wrigleycub

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    Sep 29, 2010
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    I'm not really sure if it's constitutional or even what relevance constitutionality has in your argument. Although, for what its worth I think I know what your getting at. Anyway, selective service is law, you can get lots of info on it with just a quick search on the net. I for one signed up as soon as I became eligible. While i'm not within the age group that selective service is applicable for anymore, i still have my card (almost 20 years later). Why, not sure, I guess I was proud to sign up. Even to this day, if something happened and my number did get called in some kind of draft, I would go. I would be proud to go and fight for whats left of my country. Will you ever get drafted, hopefully not, for several reasons. But, that number I do know is hooked to just about everything that your going to need, now that you are an adult i.e. loans, financial aid, you could even be disqualified for public safety jobs if you ever decided to go that route. Anyway, not sure if that helped you or not.
     

    wrigleycub

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    BTW selective service has been challenged by the 13th amendment several times in the supreme court, most notably by Butler vs. Perry (1916). The supreme court has never ruled in favor of the challenger. Additionally, the Supreme court has ruled drafts constitutional 1916, 1918, and as late as 1968. So I guess you should go ahead and say "yes" they are constitutional. So, fill that card out and mail it in before you lose it or forget about it.
     

    Duncan

    Shooter
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    Jun 27, 2010
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    South of Indy
    so I get home and what do I find in the mailbox???.... !@$#:xmad: a Selective Service letter. personally I dont even know why they send these things out? theres plenty of people going into the military... I mean are we really gonna have another "draft"? ahh, I dont know. they'll probably never call a draft while I'm alive (hopefully) so yeah getting to my question, does anybody know if it says anywhere in the Constitution about drafting or Selective Service? guess I would feel better about it if it was constitutionally correct... anyway I would appreciate some feedback. thanks.
    -TW

    Don't bet on you not being called up ... we have not had a real war since WW 2 and the powers to be might be getting ready ... wars follow broken economies ... IN WW2 they took guys up to 45 I think some one will correct me as I have so many friends here ...
    Duncan

    OH yeah Hitler took guys at age 60 toward the end
     

    indykid

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    Jan 27, 2008
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    I remember way back when I had to fill one out. I was sure by the time I was old enough to worry about it the war in Vietnam would be over. Boy was I wrong.

    These days age doesn't seem to matter as I keep seeing "old people" getting sent overseas to protect those who won't protect themselves. I keep trying to tell myself it is just my eyesight going bad.

    Sign the papers and mail them in. Your life will be much easier that way. That is assuming we never need conscription!!!!!
     

    MuncieKat

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    Aug 29, 2009
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    I haven't thought about this in 20 years, when I had to fill that card out. Have no idea how I would prove I did it - don't remember or have a record of a number assigned to me.

    I consulted all-knowing wikipedia to learn how the laws have changed over the years.
    Selective Service System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Interesting how a draft would start with men aged 20, then 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 19, and 18. If it ever goes past that we up the creek!

    Most interesting to me is the gender issue: women are still exempt. I don't believe that should be the case any more - but until there is an actual draft it's a relative non-issue.
     

    MuncieKat

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    wikipedia tells me the following about what the WWII drafts:
    10 million were drafted!
    " all men from 18 to 65 to register with those aged 18 to 45 being immediately liable for induction. Service commitments for inductees were set at the length of the war plus six months.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States#cite_note-14As manpower need increased during World War II, draftees were inducted into the Marine Corps as well as the Army."
    Conscription in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     

    rambone

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    You guys are going to have a wake up call. We all are. Our runaway Federal Government is going to provoke the next World War. The gears are already in motion. And your ass is going to belong to the Machine. They'll pump us full of propaganda and vaccines and send us off to defend the empire. And at that time, the 'homeland' will turn into a veritable Police State. Dissenters will be rounded up, the same way they were by other tyrant presidents during other avoidable wars.

    Conscription is tyrannical to the core. It deprives men of their liberty -- using the "ends justify the means" approach. It is unconstitutional if I were to be asked.
     

    gunowner930

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    Conscription is tyrannical to the core. It deprives men of their liberty -- using the "ends justify the means" approach. It is unconstitutional if I were to be asked.

    ^sums up my opinion.

    The courts have screwed this up. The Constitution says that Congress has the power to raise and army, nowhere does it say that it can raise an army using conscription. Conscription is a form of slavery.
     

    rambone

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    You have 30 days after your 18th birthday to register for your future involuntary servitude or you go to prison for 5 years. Land of the Free indeed.

     

    wrigleycub

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    Sep 29, 2010
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    You guys are going to have a wake up call. We all are. Our runaway Federal Government is going to provoke the next World War. The gears are already in motion. And your ass is going to belong to the Machine. They'll pump us full of propaganda and vaccines and send us off to defend the empire. And at that time, the 'homeland' will turn into a veritable Police State. Dissenters will be rounded up, the same way they were by other tyrant presidents during other avoidable wars.

    Conscription is tyrannical to the core. It deprives men of their liberty -- using the "ends justify the means" approach. It is unconstitutional if I were to be asked.

    Well, i guess if this happens it will help me to lose that extra 20lbs i've been battling with for the past 10 years :laugh::laugh:, bring it on I say!
     

    tv1217

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    Mar 11, 2009
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    While I don't agree with forcing people against their will, I'll give a +1 to this
    Well, i guess if this happens it will help me to lose that extra 20lbs i've been battling with for the past 10 years :laugh::laugh:, bring it on I say!

    I've wanted to join up since I was 18 and this is my only hurdle.
     

    sloughfoot

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    Apr 17, 2008
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    I was subject to the draft in 1970 and proudly enlisted in the Regular Army to avoid being drafted. I was a soldier for 3 years and it was the best experience of my life.

    That is probably as much as I should say about it to someone who would start such a thread.
     

    gunowner930

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    I was subject to the draft in 1970 and proudly enlisted in the Regular Army to avoid being drafted. I was a soldier for 3 years and it was the best experience of my life.

    That is probably as much as I should say about it to someone who would start such a thread.

    There is a big difference between volunteering and being forced to serve. The military is a great OPTION for a lot of people, and it should remain that way. Thanks for your service.
     

    sloughfoot

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    On second thought, I will say this.

    I work with, and mentor, Civil Air Patrol and Junior ROTC Cadets. Without exception, these fine young men and women have a keen desire to serve their country and they are actively gathering as much knowledge as they can in preparation for their anticipated future military service.

    I am proud to help them to the best of my ability.

    They are the reason that I feel confidant that our country will always have the people to stand up and do what it takes to defend and protect the Constitution of these United States.

    They would hold anyone in disdain that would resist the call for service by our country.

    We also have many Junior shooters in Indiana and all the rest of the states that are courted by the various military services at the Nationals at Camp Perry to sign up when they come of age.

    Now, I will stop. But it is not easy.
     
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    Indy_Guy_77

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    If i were ever called... I think I'd pick a service and enlist.

    Wouldn't matter, though; health concerns would DQ me.

    I do think, though, that they should go ahead and include women in the draft. Just think about all the lawsuits in the past 20-30 years fighting for women's rights in the Military?

    -J-
     

    goinggreyfast

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    Nov 21, 2010
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    Rut roh! Here we go:

    Hair1650.jpg


    Personally, I think that every man and woman who is physically/mentally capable, should serve at least 1 term. It teaches a young person so much about personal responsibility, character, respect, etc, etc. :twocents:
     

    Expat

    Pdub
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    Feb 27, 2010
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    Since so many of the anti-draft people also worship the 9 black robed despots, you will feel better knowing that they have spoken on the issue.

    In 1918, the Supreme Court ruled that the World War I draft did not violate the United States Constitution. Arver v. United States, 245 U.S. 366 (1918).[61] The Court summarized the history of conscription in England and in colonial America, a history that it read as establishing that the Framers envisioned compulsory military service as a governmental power. It held that the Constitution's grant to Congress of the powers to declare war and to create standing armies included the power to mandate conscription. It rejected arguments based on states' rights, the Thirteenth Amendment, and other provisions of the Constitution.
    Conscription in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
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