Over 50 years ago, the United States issued a draft for the Vietnam War, which faced immense opposition, protests, and resistance that even resulted in a famous Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines. Now, the same situation could arise with the Selective Service System (SSS) drafting policy.
The policy, which was submitted on March 30th and signed into law in December last year, would automatically register young eligible men for the military draft pool as part of the new defense policy bill.
The automatic draft applies in the majority of U.S. states and will apply to male U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 and 26. This includes green card holders, refugees, undocumented men, and asylum seekers.
Failure to register in states where you must register manually could result in a felony, loss of certain benefits, imprisonment or a large fine.
Many talks of a draft happening soon have become prominent with the U.S’s ongoing war with Iran, but currently have no connection at the moment. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that President Donald Trump “wisely keeps his options on the table.”
In the case of a draft, however, not all registered men would be enlisted. There will most likely be a lottery where birthdays and numbers are chosen randomly.
A drafting lottery would be held for those who are deemed to be the most able-bodied, or the prime age group starting from 20, followed by ages 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 19, and then those who are more than six months past their 18th birthday.
Now, this means it can include males who are still in their senior year of high school with plans to attend college, or even those who are in their freshman year of college. In PPCHS, some seniors have many opinions on this.
Graduating seniors like Manny Ramirez express how he feels, “Military service has been something I’ve thought about, but in reality, I feel like I’m still so young, and being enlisted at my age seems scary.”
In opposition to the defense policy bill as well, Ramirez brings up that it’s “scary that it’s gotten to the point where we need to draft people who are eighteen years old.”
Similarly, many young men, or Gen Z, have taken to the internet to voice strong resistance to the automatic draft.
As of now, despite the ongoing conflict with Iran, neither the U.S military nor Congress has expressed a willingness to put the automatic draft into use. Nevertheless, with this much tension in the Middle East, anything can happen.
