Senate Approves Women Registering for Draft Act

[sayuridoll]

Washington (CNN) - Women may soon be required to register for the military draft.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a $602 billion defense bill Tuesday that included an amendment that would require women to register for the draft -- also known as the selective service -- for the first time in history.

The National Defense Authorization Act passed

Comments

[itscaelsday]

According to the Selective Service website, "Almost all male U.S. citizens and male immigrants, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service."

I havent registered or anything. Oop. Good thing im 26 in 10 more months.

[mimblexwimble]

Both my brothers are between those ages--they're citizens but they haven't lived in the states since they were very young. I had no idea they needed to register, either. They're coming over for college soon, so hopefully they can register then without penalty...

[tinylegacies]

As long as they register before they turn 26, there shouldn't be any issue for them. They also may not be required because of living out of the country, but I'm not sure how that works. I know there are a handful of exceptions, but I don't know the specifics.

[ioplokon]

It's possible, depending on your state, that you were automatically registered when you got a driver's license. If you genuinely aren't registered, it's super unlikely that you'll ever be prosecuted, but you also can't have a federal job or federal funding for university/job training, and in some states you also can't get drivers licenses, state funding for education, & some other things. Once you turn 26 you literally can /no longer/ register, so you're basically locked out of these things for good.

I'm a woman & it never came up for me (obvs), but a lot of my friends are either non-compliant or conscientious objectors (like they've got a file ready if they ever get drafted), so we've talked a bit about what happens when you aren't registered. I think not registering is a fine decision to make, but since you are basically stuck with that once you're 26, it's important to know what the effects are!

[tinylegacies]

You probably should take care of that. When I worked in higher education, we had several men trying to return to school after the age of 26 who found they were ineligible for student loans for failure to register and by that point it was too late to correct the issue.

[itscaelsday]

So it doesnt matter if im getting federal loans now?

[tinylegacies]

if you were approved for federal loans, you are registered.

[fluteaphrael]

You realise that there are penalties for not having registered, including things like being denied government employment. The fact that they have not called anyone up on that list doesn't mean that those who avoid it aren't penalised later in life.

It's really crappy but they can hit you with some pretty heavy stuff.

https://www.sss.gov/Registration/Why-Register/Benefits-and-Penalties

All this for making a decision when you're pretty much a kid.