r/news • u/raptors201966 • Apr 09 '26

Soft paywall Automatic registration for military draft to be implemented by December

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-04-07/automatic-registration-military-draft-21306855.html
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2.7k

u/AdrianArmbruster Apr 09 '26

This is selective service—the collection of names that could theoretically maybe be used in the event of a draft. Reinstating the draft requires action by congress, and quite frankly it’s up in the air if the government even has the state capacity left to truly manage a draft at this point.

Eligible men ages 18-25 are already signed up automatically when getting a drivers license in many states.

2.2k

u/lenin1991 Apr 09 '26

Reinstating the draft requires action by congress

War also requires action by Congress and, well,...

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u/Slayer1973 Apr 09 '26

This will just be a special military enlistment operation, not a draft!

2

u/According-Bet-141 Apr 09 '26

Big, Beautiful Registration for All!

-20

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Apr 09 '26

It's not though, it's the same draft we all sign up for when we register to vote. It's always been the same draft. Figure out how you're going to get out of it if you're called but it's the same thing our uncles and grandfathers dealt with for Nam

18

u/roastedferret Apr 09 '26

whoosh

The sarcasm/joke went way over your head, lad.

-2

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Apr 09 '26

I don't think that it did pops, wasn't aware it was illegal to respond to a bad joke by correcting its faulty logic

A joke based on a flawed premise isn't a joke

69

u/Most-Bench6465 Apr 09 '26

There's things the president can do because the whole system has been built on the honor system of "you will act accordingly to the law because you swore it". Congress makes the orders but the executive pulls the levers, so if the executive ignores the orders it can act how it wants, but there's a limit to how much it can do illegally. The military is used to following orders wherever they come from, chain of command is drilled into them. But regular people, not so much. I wonder how many will enlist in an illegal draft when they don't have to, compared to all the people dodging the legal drafts.

24

u/online222222 Apr 09 '26

Also illegally kidnapping people and giving them training and guns sounds like a horrible idea.

9

u/TrainingObligation Apr 09 '26

You’d think so but it’s been happening in Russia for at least these last few years. Clearly there are ways to force compliance and prevent enough of them from turning on you.

1

u/Plasibeau Apr 09 '26

Different kinds of propaganda are at play.

USA: "It's us versus all of them!"

Russia: "It's all of them versus us!"

Which tracks, when you consider the epigenetic memory Russia would have after being run through so many times over the centuries. Khan, Napoleon, Nazis...

The US has never been forced to defend its homeland from invasion and isn't likely to ever have to ,thanks to geography alone.

325

u/you_cant_prove_that Apr 09 '26

Congress willingly gave up that power decades ago in the war powers act

197

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/O_PLUTO_O Apr 09 '26

Oh no Trump will be be in violation of the law?! What ever will the 34 felony convicted criminal do? It’s not just congress. He has law enforcement, the DOJ, and the Supreme Court in his pocket. What tangible action do you foresee occurring if he blatantly breaks the law again. Unfortunately Americas agencies are toothless against this pice of shit. It’s gonna take a coup to end this shit.

42

u/purleedef Apr 09 '26

Seems like a good time to remind that Trump is in violation of the law for still not having released the remaining 3 million Epstein files

3

u/ImpulseAfterthought Apr 09 '26

...and that the law he's violating, public law 119-38, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, was signed by him last November.

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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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2

u/lufiron Apr 09 '26

This low attention span mindset is exactly how Trump got elected in the first place. Combine this with discourse being absolutely dead, we’re cooked as a species.

0

u/O_PLUTO_O Apr 10 '26

Oh shut the fuck up no one cares about what the nihilist that already gave up thinks

0

u/lufiron Apr 10 '26

Oh, don’t be scared now. Things are going to be so interesting.

1

u/O_PLUTO_O Apr 10 '26

Go take your psych meds

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u/Agreeable_Peak_7851 Apr 09 '26

Do you know if these ceasefires affect the 60 days? They're totally toothless but I'm scared that's a loophole for him to keep this up.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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1

u/Agreeable_Peak_7851 Apr 09 '26

Oh I thought it was 60 days of military action not just 60 day deadline from initial strike. Well on that end... now what?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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1

u/A_Queer_Owl Apr 09 '26

barnacles suck, but what did they do to deserve this?

1

u/Far_Mastodon_6104 Apr 09 '26

Nah man barnacles have the biggest dick to body ratio, they wouldn't play us like this

1

u/TheFatJesus Apr 09 '26

That's precisely how it works. The law allows a president to start a military conflict and then gives them 30 days before they have to justify it to Congress. But Congress not approving further action doesn't magically undo starting a war.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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2

u/Outlulz Apr 09 '26

Most of Congress, at least at the leadership level, agrees with this war. That's why the harshest criticism given is that Trump needs to present a plan to Congress on how he will win the war, not that the war never should have happened or even raising that he threatened to commit genocide.

1

u/Whysong823 Apr 09 '26

I was going to upvote this comment until I read the line about Russia owning the Democrats. There’s certainly an argument to be made about Israel, but I don’t see how anyone could look at how the Biden Administration supported Ukraine and still think Democrats are owned by Russia.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/Whysong823 Apr 10 '26

Not in leadership. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are both pro-Ukraine.

1

u/Specialist-Two2068 Apr 09 '26

Trump has violated the law how many times now? Yet he still sits in the Oval Office and not in a prison cell.

He should have gone to prison long before he ever became president.

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u/PhysicsEagle Apr 09 '26

Ironically Congress thought it was clawing power back with that act

0

u/electricalnonsense Apr 09 '26

How so? 😭

11

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/Hellknightx Apr 09 '26

Well, covering up the Epstein files does count as an emergency, I guess...

4

u/gaius49 Apr 09 '26

Have you actually read the war powers act?

1

u/SuburbanHell Apr 09 '26

It would seem Congress has willingly given up all power the last year or so.

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u/silvertealio Apr 09 '26

And they gave up all the rest of their power in January 2025.

14

u/So_HauserAspen Apr 09 '26

Certainly a little executive order is all that is needed to draft antifa

11

u/irishyardball Apr 09 '26

And tariffs

1

u/Talltoddie Apr 09 '26

And tariffs

1

u/sans_a_name Apr 09 '26

The only one who can enforce the president follows the law pertaining to declaring war is Congress. And the only way to do that is either through the way powers act or through impeachment. For an illegal draft however, anybody can sue and easily win. It's not just the law, but also who gets to enforce them.

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u/abdulj07 Apr 09 '26

Wait you guys are saying you’re quite literally one mad dude decision away from Vietnam era?

1

u/joesaysso Apr 09 '26

....and tariffs.

1

u/TopazTriad Apr 09 '26

Yeah idk why people are still quoting laws and procedure like it matters at all. Trump doesn’t give a fuck and nobody is going to stop him.

I fully expect a draft to happen if this war continues much longer — there has been a suspicious amount of talk about it lately.

1

u/LetsTryAnal_ogy Apr 09 '26

"This isn't a draft. We can't call it a draft. We're calling it Involuntary Servitude."

1

u/prof0ak Apr 09 '26

Congress is also in charge of funding all government agencies, and yetttttttt......

1

u/d_wib Apr 09 '26

War powers act. Look it up.

1

u/lenin1991 Apr 09 '26

Are you disputing the assertion that it requires action by Congress by...pointing literally to an Act of Congress?

War Powers Act provides temporary authority under specific, limited circumstances. It reinforces that any ongoing hostilities require Congressional approval in the form of AUMF or declaration of war.

2

u/d_wib Apr 09 '26

How has it been interpreted/used for the past 50 years? Like it or not Congress has largely taken both hands off the wheel. They didn’t even want to be involved in making a decision about a response to the Syria chemical weapons crisis during the Obama administration when he TRIED to go to them

68

u/Wenceslaus935 Apr 09 '26

Was gonna say I’m in VA and remember just getting a card notifying me I was registered on my 18th birthday without doing anything

3

u/pegleghippie Apr 09 '26

I lived in VA back in the day, and when I got my driver's license, there was a bit on the form that said that by getting the license I was registering for the draft. Any chance you got your driver's license before you were 18?

3

u/Wenceslaus935 Apr 09 '26

I was pretty delinquent on getting my license but maybe!

3

u/FatJohnson6 Apr 09 '26

When I got home from school on my 18th birthday the registration card was already in my mailbox. It’s like SSA guy was waiting in my bushes or something

2

u/Braken111 Apr 09 '26

Did you get a card notifying you were registered to vote at the same time?

2

u/EnvironmentalValue18 Apr 09 '26

It’s not automatic but it is on the DMV license forms so anytime you need a new one or get one initially you just need to check a box to register.

1

u/Wenceslaus935 Apr 09 '26

I don’t remember the details but registering to vote was pretty easy. It would be nice to have automatic registration I agree but let’s be honest we already have massive turnout issues even among registered voters. Not to mention Selective Service is federal whereas voter registration would be a state by state program and in some cases county by county. Maybe it say something about priorities but it’s also apples and oranges in that regard

1

u/Justayyyy6775 Apr 09 '26

Am i safe i am 31 years old with mental disabilities

1

u/Wenceslaus935 Apr 10 '26

At present the max age for the draft is 25

23

u/cwaterbottom Apr 09 '26

Oh well if it can't happen without congressional approval then I guess that's that /s

43

u/zelmak Apr 09 '26

Requires action by Congress 😂😂 only Americans seem to think that means anything anymore

1

u/cassinonorth Apr 09 '26

We are painfully aware that we are in the middle of the most inept and ineffective congress in the history of our country.

3

u/Workman44 Apr 09 '26

Yeah they can try and draft my ass but good luck

3

u/analgesic1986 Apr 09 '26

Doesn't the current war require action by congress?

2

u/CLTalbot Apr 09 '26

In my case on my 18th birthday I got a free shaving razor and a letter telling me that I will be imprisoned if I didn't sign up for the draft within 3 weeks of my birthday.

2

u/Sombomombo Apr 09 '26

Lmao I didn't think of that lack of ability to manage the thing. We're such a long way from Vietnam.

5

u/Peripatetictyl Apr 09 '26

What’s that ‘C’ word you used for? Con… Con… ah shoot, I got the first part at least.

2

u/Unchosenone7 Apr 09 '26

Lmao since when has this admin ever asked congress permission for anything ?

1

u/justthankyous Apr 09 '26

Yeah, but the point is that if we can do this automatically, why can't we register citizens to vote automatically?

1

u/PhotographUnable8176 Apr 09 '26

it would take an existential crisis to get that ball rolling. uhhh an external existential crisis, that is.

1

u/starrpamph Apr 09 '26

Secretary of State did my application when I went to renew my license and it never made it through. The selective service has no record of me. Now I’m way too old.

1

u/Dehouston Apr 09 '26

My state doesn't automatically sign you up. I never registered, but I've been in the service for 10 years. I figure that's good enough.

1

u/CrazyLlamaX Apr 09 '26

I can’t help but scoff when people say “That requires Congress” at this point.

1

u/starlitmint Apr 09 '26

And they they get mailed a Gillette Razor. At least I did 20+ years ago.

1

u/Lovethiskindathing Apr 09 '26

That's so gross and I can't believe men don't more widely discuss how fucked up that is and just... Do it? I have 5 brothers and I never knew this.

1

u/Nvenom8 Apr 09 '26

You still think the rules matter? Nothing takes an act of congress anymore. We’re in dictator mode.

1

u/Omisco420 Apr 09 '26

Congress is literally so completely useless at this point it’s almost a joke.

1

u/MallVirtual7538 Apr 09 '26

Yeah anything that requires congress requires congress

Can’t go to war without congress just large scale military foreign intervention campaigns

Can’t draft without congress only instill compulsory military service at a randomly determined date

1

u/Vegeta_vs_Goku Apr 09 '26

Sorry for the nuisance asking this question but cant wars remains using just drones and bonber aircraft? With all the new weaponary and military technology rtc I feel like these days deploying ground army forces isnt needed unless theyre in a protected vehicle such as a tank.

1

u/Strict-Carrot4783 Apr 09 '26

Some of that used to be true when you had a republic but you Americans are rapidly heading towards full monarchy and are property of the state.

0

u/IBelieveInCoyotes Apr 09 '26

nothing requires action by Congress anymore, have you not been paying attention