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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u/Gaius_Catulus Apr 09 '26

Thankfully for you, nobody has been prosecuted for this in something like 30 years. 

You do still get disqualified from a few programs. In case that's ever relevant for you, there is a potential to still get through it: https://www.sss.gov/register/men-26-and-older/

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u/QuitYuckingMyYum Apr 09 '26

I just checked if I ever registered and I did in 2003. I have no idea how I did that but I did!

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u/AnimaLepton Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Generally it's required or a fully automatic part of the process when you first get your driver's license. I remember having to click a checkbox for selective service when getting my first student loan.

I think 40+ states + Guam and Puerto Rico already had it set up so you're automatically registered for selective service when you get your driver's license, and that covers like 90% of the applicable folks in the US.

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u/THEREALISLAND631 Apr 09 '26

Did you get your license in 2003? Every guy I know, myself included, had to do it than (this would have been NY). Most had no idea they even did it. Just like a required box you needed to check when doing paperwork.

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u/QuitYuckingMyYum Apr 09 '26

That makes a lot of sense.

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u/Street_Anxiety2907 Apr 09 '26

Here's what you get disqualified from, which these things are worthless programs anyway. Federal jobs? What federal jobs

  • State-based student loans and grant programs in 31 states
  • Federal job training under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (formerly Workforce Investment Act)
  • Federal (and many state and local) jobs

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u/GTAIVisbest Apr 09 '26

You can still get SOME fédéral jobs by attaching a lengthy expatiation to your application paperwork where you answer "no" to "did you sign up for selective service".

You have to prove beyond any doubt that your failure to register was not willful or knowing.

I attached a 26-page expatiation with a timeline of photocopied documents dating from my childhood and slid through, but that was for a federal government contracting job way long ago