Scrubbed Draft Board Recruitment Ad back up--on Selective Service Home

[Dems Will Win]

Page. With 2 extra sentences, clearly written by Saturday Night Live's Jon Lovitz, The Liar (Yeah, that's the ticket!). Say the bold text below like Lovitz, then say "Yeah--that's the ticket, NO connection to Iraq. Yeah!"

http://www.sss.gov

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Local Board Volunteers

Selective Service continues to invite interested citizens to volunteer for service on its local boards that would decide claims from men if a draft were reestablished. This invitation for board members has been ongoing over the past 23 years, although there has not been a military draft in over 30 years. There is NO connection between this ongoing, routine public outreach to compensate for natural board attrition and current international events. Both the President and the Secretary of Defense have stated on several occasions that a draft is not needed for the war on terrorism, including Iraq. People seeking further information about Selective Service's standby boards or application should consult "Fast Facts" on this site.


-snip-

Even though it's been up on the SSS Home Page for a month, the media has yet to mention it. I am the only one! DU Scoop!

Bush '04 = DRAFT '05

[AO Tom]

1. Wait a minute.

Here's the thing though:

These draft board recruitments really are routine. There's nothing inherently unusual about them. As the site itself mentions:

"This invitation for board members has been ongoing over the past 23 years although there has not been a military draft in over 30 years...".

Unless you have something further, there's nothing unusual going on here, and nothing for the media to pick up on....

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. How about superfunding of the SSS sysstem

Look we should all have learned already, that when it comes to these
boys the more they deny it the more they intend to do it

By the way... both Rummy and Wolfie are ON Record that they want a draft, and need a draft

[AO Tom]

5. Not quite....

You've ducked the point: There's nothing unusual here. You need more evidence. I haven't seen a cite for the superfunding you mention... can you link me?

Rummy and Wolfie are both neocons who have said that we don't need any more troops.

Here's an example:

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that draftees added "no value, no
advantage, really, to the United States Armed Services over any
sustained period of time."

Is that a man who wants the draft? It seems pretty clear he doesn't....

[alfredo]

13. From what I have read, there will only be a draft for critical positions

like doctors, nurses and computer experts.

Rumsfeld has been wavering on his stance against the draft. that above draft may be a compromise position.

Conscripts aren't as easy to control. Their tolerance for bullshit is quite low.

[Dems Will Win]

14. The Pentagon has admitted they only have enough troops until Spring 2005

for Iraq and Afghanistan. Rummy has no choice but to DRAFT. That's why they want all 8,000 DRAFT BOARD VACANCIES FILLED BY...

...Spring 2005! And the Magic day is March 31, 2005 when the SSS muct tell the Pres the DRAFT is geared up and ready to induct within 75 days. The first lottery would then be June 15, 2005.

[alfredo]

16. My friend, an old army buddy from back in the late 60's

is being activated. He failed his physical, but they are taking him anyway. They have changed him from artillery to infantry. He leaves the 4th. He just found out today.

[PaDUer]

3. What does AO Tom mean?

Agent Orange Tom?

[AO Tom]

7. AO are my middle and last initial, Tom my first name. nt.

nt

[RapidCreek]

4. There is nothing inherently unusual about them?

My that's interesting. Is there anything inherently unusual about including "There is NO connection between this ongoing, routine public outreach to compensate for natural board attrition and current international events. Both the President and the Secretary of Defense have stated on several occasions that a draft is not needed for the war on terrorism, including Iraq." in their blurb?

Have these two sentences been included in the draft boards marketing campaign for the past 23 years? If so please supply some proof. If not then why are they now?

Here is something for you to ponder.....How do you know when the administration is lying? Their lips are moving.

RC

[AO Tom]

8. No, they haven't....

"Have these two sentences been included in the draft boards marketing campaign for the past 23 years? If so please supply some proof. If not then why are they now?"

No, they haven't, at least as far as I'm aware.

They're there now precisely because rumor-mongers are spreading around the link and saying, "Look, they're bringing back the draft!". Without the explanatory note, people may not realize that this is strictly routine.

When my airline pilot tells me that "You're just hearing the engine, those are routine sounds", I don't think, "He MUST be covering something up!". Same deal here.

Bush is tragically wrong in some areas-- economically-- but why not criticize him for something he's actually done? Like tax cuts for the super wealthy?

[Dems Will Win]

10. Attention AO Tom!

Is this routine? They just sent the Arlington Honor Guard over to fight in Iraq, Tom (along with Army and Marine Band members). They have reached the end of the troops and the DRAFT PER SE has already started as the soldiers in this article complain about the 40,000 stop-loss orders. 40,000 proves they have run out of deployable troops and Bush is trying to bandaid it all over until November 3rd, 2004, the day after the election.

The numbers of available troops and the actions of the government lately have put the lie to the idea that the DRAFT will not be reinstated. The article in the Post today clearly states that 40,000 troops have been prevented from leaving now and that is just the beginning of all this. And that number does not include the ones who were persuaded to re-enlist! The numbers just don't add up past March 2005 as they will not deploy anyone twice! the DRAFT is clearly coming if Bush is re-selected.

I think everyone can see now that those who thought the GOP would never reinstate the DRAFT have to admit they were wrong. The DoD has in effect already started a DRAFT "per se", as the Soldiers complain in the article. There will now have to be a DRAFT, just to save the invasion of Iraq and make the world safe for Halliburton.

The implications of this for DU and the Democratic Party are many. If people just understood what is happening here, the rug could be pulled out from under Bush, because it is his PNAC Plan and the refusal to share and make way for foreign troops in Iraq that has broken the back of the Volunteer Army. And most of the troops in Iraq protect KB&R, the Halliburton subsidiary!

Once regular conscription is authorized on April 1, 2005, as I have said before, the new Special Skills Draft will force millions of computer experts, linguists, engineers and many other occupation to register with Selective Service, man or woman up to the age of 44! 3.4 million doctors, nurses and 62 different medical specialties will also have to register for the MEDICAL DRAFT. All by May 1, 2005.
No medical deferments either here. Gen Xers beware!

And no more student deferments, college kids. No more Canada maybe, as they signed "The Agreement of Return".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36979-2003Dec28.html

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Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting

"An enlistment contract has two parties, yet only the government is allowed to violate the contract; I am not," said Costas, 42, who signed an e-mail from Iraq this month "Chained in Iraq," an allusion to the fact that he and his fellow reservists remained in Baghdad after the active-duty unit into which they were transferred last spring went home. He has now been told that he will be home late next June, more than a year after his contractual departure date. "Unfair. I would not say it's a draft per se, but it's clearly a breach of contract. I will not reenlist." ...

...Some of the orders have applied to soldiers, sailors and airmen in specific skill categories -- military police, for example, and ordnance control specialists, have been in particular demand in Iraq.

Other edicts have been more sweeping, such as the Army's most recent stop-loss order, issued Nov. 13, covering thousands of active-duty soldiers whose units are scheduled for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming months. Because the stop-loss order begins 90 days before deployment and lasts for 90 days after a return home, those troops will be prohibited from retiring or leaving the Army at the expiration of their contracts until the spring of 2005, at the earliest.

The proliferation of stop-loss orders has bred confusion and resentment even as it has helped preserve what the military calls "unit cohesion." In the past two years, the Army alone has announced 11 stop-loss orders -- an average of one every nine or 10 weeks. Often in the past year, the Army has allowed active-duty soldiers to retire and depart but not Guard and reserve troops, many of whom have chafed at the disparity in policies. Some Guard troops and reservists complain their release dates have been extended several times and they no longer know when they will be allowed to leave.


-snip-

Bush '04 = DRAFT'05

[Gemini Cat]

15. There's going to be a draft.

Do you actually believe them when they say there will not be one?
They (bushwanker and rummyanotherwanker) do not have a record of truth telling, as you should know. (They lie about everything.) I honestly can't understand why anyone here, there or anywhere else would think any differently about the draft coming back!

It's coming.

Vote for the wankerbush in '04 and expect the draft in '05.

:dem:

[Dems Will Win]

9. What's unusual AO Tom is that NO public ad for a DRAFT BOARD

slot has been made since the early 1980s. And Bush is filling the slots of all 8,000 vacancies by Spring of 2005 is the goal. Even in ALABAMA they are worried that the filling of the Draft Boards means Dubya is going to reinstate the DRAFT after the election:

Bush drives to fill draft and appeal board positions

http://www.datelinealabama.com/article/2003/11/04/4927_opinions_art.php3

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In an odd move right before election year President Bush has made a push to fill all board positions in the selective service; a move that has left many officials and certainly all draft eligible males a little tense.


-- Andrew Hallman, opinions editor





Before all the men out there not wishing to go to war grab a pair a high-heels and a tasteful floral number, let me reassure the war wary out there that in no way has Bush said he wants to mobilize the draft. But to me, the fact that he would even consider filling up all of the board positions doesn't bode well for the future.

I would like to think that Bush is only filling up these positions to continue the illusion that the economy is running strong and employment is bouncing back with a vengeance; but "momma didn't raise no fool". I have enough sense to get out of the rain. So when I look on the news to see Rumsfeld warmly reassuring everyone that the war on terror will be a "long hard slog" and see Bush vowing to "never run" from Iraq, pardon me if I make the conclusion that at some point the draft will have to be reinstated.

I remember when the war first started and my dad started talking about the draft. I thought that it was a silly idea. I thought, "That won't happen, America has changed how they fight wars. The draft left a rancid taste in America's mouth and no one would ever consider its reinstatement."

If things don't change I could definitely be eating those words. And I'm not the only one. Many officials and "man-power engineers" are saying that if the war keeps going like it has, at some point the military will need to find more men from somewhere. Unfortunately the U.S. doesn't buy mercenaries. The closest thing our great nation has to a mercenary force is coercing other nations to donate troops for "the cause" or forming a militia from the citizens of Iraq.

-snip-

Add that the fact that George W. Bush is moving to re-activate the DRAFT and have the first Lottery drawing of 20-year old men, as well as doctors, nurses, computer specialists, linguists and engineers by June 15, 2005, AFTER the 2004 election. They are soon going to have a Special Skills draft as well, meaning they can draft anyone up to age 45, if the Pentagon says they have a shortage in that area. Arab linguists will be inducted first, then many others. Lewis Brodsky himself said this was a priority. As it is, upon activation, all 3.4 million doctors and nurses under 45 will have to register with the SSS.

The official Selective Service site clearly says that $28 million is being spent next year to have the draft ready for activation within 75 days by March 31, 2005, conveniently AFTER the 2004 election. All Bush has to do is say "We are not going to Cut and Run from Iraq, but we have no more men. THe Pentagon has told me we need to activate the Selective Service System". The scrubbed Draft Board recruitment ad (the first in decades), was just the tip of the following $28 million iceberg headed for a home near you:

http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html

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Strategic Goal 1: Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the Manpower Delivery Systems (Projected allocation for FY 2004 – $7,942,000)

Strategic Goal 2: Improve overall Registration Compliance and Service to the Public (Projected allocation FY 2004 – $8,769,000)

Strategic Goal 3: Enhance external and internal customer service
(Projected allocation for FY 2004 – $10,624,000)

Strategic Goal 4: Enhance the system which guarantees that each conscientious objector is properly classified, placed, and monitored.(Projected allocation for FY 2004 – $955,000)

Total=$28,290,000



An annual report providing the results of the implementation of these performance
measures will be submitted by March 31, 2005. This report will address attained versus
planned levels of performance, explain unattained target levels, and identify where and
how strategies, performance goals, and performance indicators should be changed to
ensure that the SSS reaches its strategic and annual goals and objectives.

tie that paragraph to this one:

Strategic Objective 1.2: Ensure a mobilization infrastructure of 56 State Headquarters,
442 Area Offices and 1,980 Local Boards are operational within 75 days of an authorized
return to conscription.

-snip-

They are reducing draft activation time to 75 days from the current 7-8 months. The first draft lottery according to this official document could be June 15, 2005.

Question: why does a dormant agancy need to be ready to answer all correspondence in 10 days?

They said "no plans" yet they are conducting nation-wide exercises far beyond what is needed for a dormant agency. This is really a plan to get the whole system ready for activation within the 75 days proscribed, although Congress must authorize the actual activation. They are trying to stop this discussion by saying "no plans", making everybody think it's off the table. They just mean Bush has "no plans" to ask Congress at this time. Yet on April 1, 2005, according to this he could ask for activation and have it in 75 days.

Also draft boards reported being "unexpectedly" asked during summer training sessions to fill the Board vacancies (salon.com from a Philly draft Board member)

Also Rumsfeld's leaked memo said "long hard slog" and "we have not made any truly bold moves yet"--and that was after Iraq and Afghanistan.

They are even making sure the Alternative Service is all exercised and ready to go within 75 days of March 31, 2005.

This is called Performance improvement but it looks exactly like a readiness action. They are bringing the whole system up to 90% + operational capability after 30 years of dormancy. Obviously, with a war on terror this could be considered prudent (although you don't need a draft to catch Osama Bin Laden and several thousand al-Queadas). Then why did they scrub the Draft Board notice? Why not come say out front we are filling the Draft Boards and gearing up the system in case the President needs it to fight the war on terror?

Congress would of course have to approve, supposedly after a Joint Session by the President where he could easily say "we are not going to cut and run" (same was said in Vietnam). By March 31, 2005, the draft may only be 75 days away.

This change the dynamics of this issue, because people will say OK, Bush is getting the first draft lottery ready by June 15, 2005 if we need it. Now do I trust him or the Democrat more to not reinstate, given Iraq and PNAC?

In additon Brodsky, the head of SSS, says a priority will be drafting Special Skills Personnel: 20 to 45 year-old computer experts, linguists (especially Islamic languages), and engineers. All 3.4 million doctors and nurses under 45 will have to register at their local Post Office in 2005 if Bush gets Congress's permission. All signs are they will ask for the draft at that earliest possible moment and will probably establish the Special Skills Personnel Delivery System (like the HCPDS) even sooner, as soon as the election is over in November, 2004, although these computer programmers and engineers would not have to register until the draft was activiated.

[beyurslf]

6. I signed up.

Deferments anyone? COme see me. No one gets forced to fight an un just war with me on the board.

[MattNC]

11. hey Dems...

why dont u start posting this info to some other message boards? u seem to be preaching to the choir here for the most part..

[Dems Will Win]

12. Hey Matt! Here's a Google listing of blogs this got on to already:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%2428+million+draft+oh+so+June+15&btnG=Google+Search

Besides many newbies coming on lately.