Just got a call from my local Selective Service Board

[Sydnie]

Seems they have an opening on the local board and they have selected my application for that slot.

I know they have been putting these boards together for sometime now, but I applied over a year ago with not one word from them since. Could this mean that the draft is getting closer?

I know that they must have these boards in place, by law, but the timing of this call is just a bit suspect to me.

He said my application would be forwarded to the Governor (Romney) for appointment and that I should consider myself "in the flow", whatever the hell that means. He will be sending me the "404 application" and set up an interview sometime next week.

I know there are other members of these boards here at DU. Can you enlighten me as to the process and the type of training that they give?

I don't want to see any kid go to war with a draft, but if they are going to take the poorest of us, they will take the wealthiest of us too, or I will blow the whistle on it locally.

[lonestarnot]

Unfortunately, you will never know the full story on where who goes.

[liberal N proud]

1. It is coming, I can feel it

You can see it in the debates, even Murtha mentioned it yesterday

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. oh Syd! Congrats!

I know we can count on you to keep them honest, and that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

:hug:

[Sydnie]

21. thanks for the vote of confidence Viva

I know you all will be here to help me through the process too. :hug:

[whistle]

3. Well, please keep us posted

[HeeBGBz]

4. That's interesting

Keep us informed of your process. Do they keep a board on a continuing basis, draft or no draft?

[MiaCulpa]

5. Re: Selective Service

"they will take the wealthiest of us too, or I will blow the whistle on it locally."



You'll never know about it.

[Phrogman]

6. The draft starts next year, if not sooner. You can bet on it.

e0m

[daninthemoon]

18. Not until after November, though. About the same time ther gas

prices go back up.

[CarbonDate]

26. They don't want a draft.

There is no more sure way to expose fraud, waste, and abuse than to send a disgruntled soldier into an area where they're in a position to expose it. They don't even need a draft; as long as they have a compliant Congress, they can continue to send mercenaries in the place of actual troops.

[tnlefty]

7. I applied well over a year ago and got the standard response letter back.

I may need to change the message on my answering machine which is now : "Hello you've reached XXX-XXXX, please leave a brief message and the National Security Agency will return your call at their earliest possible convenience. Have a great Orwellien day." Because I've had many close, Dem friends ask me if I'd ever heard anything else from the Board, and then the jokes become 'well they checked you out, found out you're a decent law abiding citizen, but an outspoken Democrat, and we can't have that now, can we?'

I applied just to make an effort to keep it honest! Good luck to you!

[Wiley50]

8. Play it cool for now. Be a monkeywrench in the System

When you get there.

You could save lives

[Igel]

9. The selective service boards were set up in the '70s.

They haven't been discontinued; people have served their terms and retired. As people retire, they appoint new people. They've been fully staffed, by and large, for about 30 years.

[tabasco]

11. Not in my county.

There has not been a SS board in my county for many years, until about three years ago.

[Sydnie]

14. It appears they started advertising for new members in 2003

No coincidence there, huh?

[Igel]

22. There was to be.

There's no real new legislation on Selective Service Boards.

It may be that some power-that-was decided a given board covered too large a population and that its jurisdiction needed to be subdivided.

The boards are coeval with the current selective service registration requirement. I didn't need to register--I was born in what in the late 70s was considered the last baby boomer year, '59. A friend born in Jan. '60 had to register (at the time, that was standardly considered non-baby-boomer). I guess this was in '78, and the registration and the boards were in place at the time. Ford or Carter's doing. Doesn't matter; it was a prudent bit of legislation.

[tabasco]

27. Stop posting speculation and mistruths.

There is no need for new legislation to appoint board members. What I am telling you is that there were ZERO members of the SS board in my county for DECADES. My friend Don is the first board member in this county since the 70's. Your statement that the boards have been fully manned forever is an outright mistruth.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Thanks for that moment of clarity.

As if I don't already have enough to worry about. We really don't need a Democratic president to follow Bush and just pick up where the SOB left off.

[Divernan]

10. Maybe some of the current board members are resigning

because they know what's coming and can't face sending young people to their deaths or dismemberments. I hope to hell we dems regain enough control in DC to stop Bush/Cheney/Rice from their profit-hungry, power-hungry foreign wars. And I hope that you do not find yourself in a minority on the board such that you are outvoted re giving equal treatment to rich and poor, whites and minorities.

[Sydnie]

13. I hope so too

The area that I would be serving in has both poor minority areas as well as very rich affluent areas. It will be interesting to see just where the requests for deferment come from, won't it?

[Lerkfish]

12. related? I'm hearing a LOT of military planes flying overhead today

just like I did before the Iraq invasion -- wright patterson afb.

flying low and turning sharp. and we're very far from the base.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

15. sydnie, my friend Diane from Cape Cod also got chosen yesterday

to fill a post on the draft board.

She's been a big activist for many years on
Cape Codders for Peace and justice. We got
arrested together this past April in Delahunt's
office, protesting this immoral war and occupation.

She's been arrested outside of Nuke Power plants
and the navy sub base in Connecticut a few times.

We are in the midst of planning Arlington East Coast
on the National Seashore this October 14.

So she is certainly a surprising choice in my eyes.
But you two are just who we need.

Peace IN

[Sydnie]

20. that is comforting PuraVidaDreamin

since I just put these signs up in my yard this past Sunday!



Sadly, I have updated it three times since Sunday, too.



I would love to chat with her. Could you ask her if you could give her my number, or vice versa, so we can compare notes on the process please?

I remember seeing your pictures of your sit in in that office. Good for you!

[wakeme2008]

17. I wonder if they pay $$ to be a member

:)

[Sydnie]

19. No $$ at all

Voluntary and appointment for 20 years!

[wicket]

23. K & R

:kick:

[TreasonousBastard]

24. Well, the law requires that the boards be rotated...

every so often. I think it was every 10 years, but whatever it is everyone gets tossed off and new members appointed, so getting new board members on DOESN'T mean we're headed for a draft. Reinstating the draft means a vote by both houses, and few congresscritters want to deal with that-- voting for a war is fun for them, but voting to force your kids to fight in it scares the crap out of them.

As with anything Federal, it takes forever to get the paperwork through and your name may have popped up when someone ahead of you moved or changed his mind. And, with population shifts, new boards may be appointed.

Various conscientious objector groups have gotten members on the boards to make sure that CO applications are taken seriously, so your idea to keep them honest is following an old tradition.

[pitohui]

25. go you

i don't know the answers to your questions but i sure as hell like your attitude

if they are going to take the poorest of us, they will take the wealthiest of us too, or I will blow the whistle on it locally.