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Selective 'Dis'service: Registration, Reagan, and Repression

By VVAW

A recent statement from the pentagon received heavy press when a general stated that the U.S. would need and would possibly implement a draft in the year 1986. It's a little confusing when we're constantly bombarded with Pentagon statements that resemble a seesaw: "Yes, we need one this year," or "No, we don't foresee the need for the draft in this decade." The most recent Congressional figures show the military getting quality enlistees above the actual present needs. The military has also historically played a yoyo game with figures and enlistment quotas. It's a simple process by which they decide to take a number less minorities, women, category 4 enlistees, or anyone, for that matter."

Quick boys, call the press: we're short a few. Tell them we're gonna need the draft."

A major stabilizing force in the question of the draft is the young men who are being to register for a future draft. They aren't exactly cooperating. In early May, the Selective Service dropped a couple of million bucks for primetime advertising in an attempt to convince these people that registration is groovy. This expensive fiasco was called registration awareness week. It served to make the nation aware that registration is in serious trouble across the country. In states like California, Illinois, New York, Alaska and even Washington, DC, Registration Awareness Week probably had a negative effect—from the Selective Service point of view.

The Selective Service claims to have people signing up in the 90 percent range across the U.S. The Selective Service claims no more than 250,000 to 500,000 have refused to register. This is an interesting figure considering that the Selective Service is still looking for a coherent method of detecting people who haven't registered, beyond grabbing those young men who publicly defy the registration call.

Anti-draft forces estimate there are 500,000 and 1 million non-registrants, and those who are refusing to register are on a roll. Government efforts to pinpoint non-registrants through a program by the Department of Education has collapsed.

The government had hoped to require colleges and universities to report any students receiving federal loans who had not registered. The first wave of resistance came from the students themselves, followed closely by small colleges, religious institutions, large private colleges and finally the major land-grant schools. If things weren't grim enough for the government position, a suit initiated by Minnesotans in the Public Interest brought down the whole slimy house of cards with a court ruling requiring the end of the program with Department of Education.

The second major tactic used by Selective Service to crush any resistance has been the courts, but that is now in legal limbo following a ruling on non-registration in California, followed closely by another and similar ruling in Iowa. The decision of the government to move only against non-registrants who spoke publicly against the draft proved shallow and now legally supportable. Currently 8 of the 10 men who were convicted of the "crime" of non-registration are free pending appeals; the other two elected to serve their sentences.

With their major strategies down the drain, maybe the Selective Service would rethink their tactics— but no. In a style recently coined Reagan Robotics, these minions of the Selective Service press ever onward muttering of mass indictments yet to come, but stand befuddled when asked why a registration if we're not to have a draft.

Seriously, a few Selective Service types with the uncanny ability to reason for themselves have privately admitted that things could be better. For instance they are probably hard pressed to locate upwards of 20% of those who have registered and suspect that 1/3 to 1/2 of the registrants have not given notification of changes in their addresses. Add to this the numerous Mickey Mouses, Donald Ducks, grandfathers and non-existent registrants on the computers, and General, your draft in 1986 is in serious trouble.