The risk of getting called up for the draft is fairly limited

[ringmastery]

According to the law currently on the books, you are really only at risk for being selected for the draft for 1 year. The year you will turn 20 years old. After that year, your chances of being selected for the draft are practically nill. Reason being there are approximately 1.8 million young men who turn 20 every year and that's more than enough of a pool of young men to select from than to go to 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 year olds.

The most men drafted during Vietnam in any year was only a few hundred thousand.

[acmavm]

1. Yeah, but it is never the son of a rich man who gets the call. And I don't

think a few "hundred thousand" is really what you call limited. Especially if you're one of the ones who's number comes up.

[ringmastery]

4. right

but it's good to have perspective. There are 14 million 18-26 year olds. No point in getting everyone freaked out they will be drafted. Unless you will turn 20 in 2005, you are not at risk.

[sallyseven]

2. Your kidding yourself.

They can take you especially if you have skills, until your 26 years old. hide your computer.

[Atman]

5. Not 26...the new draft bill calls for up to 45

Skilled professionals, especially in IT and medical. Which includes my wife and one of my sons. Yay Bush. When to they start drafting drunken twin girls?

[ringmastery]

6. for the special skills draft

they will target older people with more skills. Legally, nobody is out of the woods until they are 35.

[Taverner]

14. 45 actually

and don't put it past monkey in the white house

[wuushew]

8. how many computer geeks do they need in Iraq?

They need mindless killers not html programmers.

[ringmastery]

9. "special skills"

people aren't going to Iraq.

They are going to work for the department of defense in the u.s. somewhere.

Bush will say he's doing you a favor. A lot of computer programmers are out of work because of outsourcing.

Bush will say it's a jobs program. :eyes:

[wuushew]

10. Given the economic incentives and lack of risk

why would a draft be necessary for people with these skills? Retention of these people should be much easier than those suffering physically and mentally in Iraq.

[zbird]

13. What "economic incentives"?

Do you really think that the pay is going to be all that wonderful for those that are drafted, even with special skills?

[coloradodem2005]

3. At the time that Bush supposedly starts the draft,...

...I will only be four months away from my 26th birthday. So I hope that I will be safe.

[ringmastery]

7. you are out of the woods

the year you turn 26.

So basically if you are 25 years old on january 1st, you are home free.

[coloradodem2005]

16. Good.

I turn 25 in October of this year. Hopefully, it will not be an issue because we should lose Bush.

[onethatcares]

11. the most men drafted in a year of vietnam in any year was only a few

HUNDRED THOUSAND. Just a few hundred thousand, just a few. How many are a few?

[hotelmotel]

21. i think

he's implying that given the large timeframe of vietnam it was comparatively a small conflict, and the numbers drafted were small (several hundred thousand total i believe, out of however many tens of million males is a drop in the bucket for better or for worse, not to diminish their lives though). the draft in WW2 took our ARMY branch from 150k to 6million total? Cant remember the exact number, may have been 4.

[babzilla]

12. thanks for the perspective

Your thread topics are so often, uhh, helpful.

[Lizz612]

15. What makes you think they wont change the laws?

If they're going to call a draft, I'm sure they'll argue that the old laws don't go far enough in these days of international terror and war. While the old laws are a good thing to look at, I'm sure they will try to change them somehow.

So people born in 1984 are at risk this year.
1985 for next year. (Thats me and most of my friends)
If Bush gets re-elected everyone up till 1988 has reason to worry. My little sister was born in '88, so were most of her friends.
And thats all assuming just the 20 year olds could be called up.

Tell the youth not to be scared and then turn on the news. Those of us who accept that there is a chance that there will be a draft are scared and for good reason, we don't want to kill and we don't want to die.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. How comforting. And what will happen to your nice little analysis...

...when they pass H.R.163/S.89 that calls for the draft of men and women?:

Excerpts:

"To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."

...snip....

"SEC. 2. NATIONAL SERVICE OBLIGATION.

(a) Obligation for Young Persons.--It is the obligation of every
citizen of the United States, and every other person residing in the
United States, who is between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a period of national service as prescribed in this Act unless exempted under the provisions of this Act."

[ringmastery]

20. that's Charlie Rangel's bill

No way a republican congress will pass that or give it the time of day. It's dead.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. Get this through your head...it doesn't matter who authored the bill!!!...

The Democrats originally authored the bill in both houses thinking that the GOP would never go along with drafting women. Well, it's more than a year later and not one word has been changed in the bill. So, hell no, it's not dead!!

Both H.R.163 and S.89 are sitting in committee in their respective sides of Congress waiting until the right moment to be brought forward onto the floor for a vote!

$25 million has been given to the Selective Service to get their systems ready to go, and they've been trying to fill all of their draft board openings for quite some time!

And please stop posting your disinformation about the upcoming military draft for 2005. This is vitally important information for American families with draft-age kids.

[carols]

24. I'm with you - my daughter turns 20 in 2005 and it is inconceivable to me.

...that the bill authors don't understand that you don't try to call these people's bluff. The neo-cons in power don't care because their children will never serve a day - at least not in harm's way. I don't think the Bushites would care if the bills included language to draft infants - they'd still vote for it, because it won't impact them. The only Draft bill I am in favor of is one that would send Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld to Iraq as foot soldiers - them, and only them (oh well maybe DeLay, Wolfowitz, Ann Coulter and Bill O' Reilly too).
Carol

[ParanoidPat]

18. You might want to read this......

.....Posted at http://draftresistance.org/more.php?id=16_0_1_0_M

Agency initiates steps for selective draft

By Eric Rosenberg, Hearst Newspapers

Washington—The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.

The Selective Service System has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.

Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, said planning for a possible draft of linguists and computer experts had begun last fall after Pentagon personnel officials said the military needed more people with skills in those areas.

<Snip>

The agency already has in place a special system to register and draft health care personnel ages 20 to 44 in more than 60 specialties if necessary in a crisis. According to Flahavan, the agency will expand this system to be able to rapidly register and draft computer specialists and linguists, should the need ever arise. But he stressed that the agency had received no request from the Pentagon to do so.

<More>

[Postman]

19. it was 100% chance for those that got drafted.

n/t

[leesa]

22. Well, I guess better him than me, eh?