What Do You Think is a Reasonable Return on $22 Million?

[OtakuLoki]

I was just thinking, today, about the Selective Service System: aka Draft Registration. In the US men between 18 and 26 years of age must register or they'll be ineligible for any federal programs for educational assistance, and I believe other programs as well. Since the active draft was suspended in 1973, and the military went to the All Volunteer Force model, the SSS has continued to register young men.

Personally, I think it's a white elephant and a relict. I would like to ignore the whole sexism inherent in the requirements for who may register. I believe that there is no reason to exclude women from the requirements for registration, but that's not the change I'd want to see happen. Debating the sexism involved, or restating the real and many contributions women provide in the modern US military ignores what I think is the real issue.

IMNSHO the SSS provides for two things: one official, and one, much more important but unspoken. The official use of the SSS is to provide quarterly lists of eligible candidates to the joint recruiting commands for the military. For the $22 million spent annually on the SSS I think that's a hugely wasteful return. Just how many people would it take to simply take reports of ever high school graduating class each year, instead?

The unofficial benefit is patronage: If you support me for this or that, I can try to get you a job in this office. And I don't see any reason to keep spending the money for the SSS just for that.

I want to see the SSS abolished. Full stop. I simply do not see the expense, as minuscule as it may be for the Federal government to be justifiable.

[What Exit?]

I am trying to think of a good reason to keep it. If we ever get desperate enough to need the draft, it cannot be that much harder to set up the draft without the benefits of the Selective Service System. It did not exist before WWI or WWII. Korea and Vietnam leave us to wonder if the draft even worked for limited warfare or if it just gave us bad servicemen and made the leaders careless. The all volunteer service seems to be far superior to the service of the 60s and 70s. I no they were still undoing some of the damage of those years when I join in 1985, though it was mostly done.

For WWI & WWII the SSS was enacted just prior to entry. This was in the days of limited computers. I doubt that we have needed the last 30 years of data collected since Carter reauthorized the SSS.

Starting here is a useful breakdown of how it would work if needed.

I still see no reason not to do away with it and bring it back if and when needed.

[OtakuLoki]

Jim, I don't know about your experience, but mine while I was in the military was that the people who felt most strongly that they'd been tricked or otherwise screwed over into serving were the absolute worst sailors we had aboard ship: You couldn't count on them to do a professional job, and they were always just doing the bare minimum to get by - when they weren't avoiding their requirements. I can't image that involuntarily drafted members would be even that good.

BTW, Jim - I think that last sentence in your post may be missing a negative.

[What Exit?]

Jim, I don't know about your experience, but mine while I was in the military was that the people who felt most strongly that they'd been tricked or otherwise screwed over into serving were the absolute worst sailors we had aboard ship: You couldn't count on them to do a professional job, and they were always just doing the bare minimum to get by - when they weren't avoiding their requirements. I can't image that involuntarily drafted members would be even that good.

BTW, Jim - I think that last sentence in your post may be missing a negative.

My experience was somewhat but not completely the same. I was tricked and while I was not the most professional sailor I was a hard worker and excellent troubleshooter*. I like others made the best of a situation we did not expect and did our 4 years and got the hell out. So instead of having me in for 20+ years they only got 4 out of me. Recruiters are often complete asses and do the service a disservice by screwing with kids and trying to trick and deceive them.

As to details, I went into the service for Electronics. I planned to be an ET and was talked into ET Nuke. What the recruit never mentioned was the Navy reserved the rights to place me in ET, EM or MM. I got EM and could not go back to ET even when I told them straight out I would not sign the extension for the Nuke Program. Their brilliant answer was “fine; go to sea as an EM”. This is one of many reasons why FTN was so true and so often heard. Dumb decision after dumb decision.

* Apparently those in charged agreed as I was the last E3 to leave the E-Div for cranking and I got out of trouble for missing ship’s movement related to HARP duty and I got CAP advanced to E4 though this was mostly to correct for a paperwork screw-up in the office. It was still only done as they did all (well one exception but that is another story) liked my work and effort.

On the missing a negative, you were right, I asked the Mods to fix it for me.

[Cluricaun]

My dad woke me up on my 18th birthday and drove me to the post office so that I could register. I didn’t want to, but coming from a family with a large and strong military background that wasn’t going to get me real far. So I trudged my reluctant self into the post office and signed the stuff and went back home.

Few days later a package came in the mail from Gilette containing the then brand new Sensor razor with the triple blade cartridges. The accompanying letter said “Congrats on turning 18…” but I was stoked to have a $12 razor, even if I didn’t really shave much at 18. I left it under my sink until a few weeks later when my peach fuzz needed some wrangling and I went and retrieved my razor. I was two strokes into my shave when it dawned on me.

Gilette has no idea when my birthday is. They bought a list of dudes who recently turned 18 from……The Selective Service. So not only does the SS make some of the expenditure back by selling your information off to, apparently, whomever, but it’s all really just an elaborate ploy to get you hooked on buying $30 packages of razor blades every month. The clever bastards.

I threw the razor away.

[The Original An Gadaí]

You could just draft people through facebook.

[Vox Imperatoris]

I completely agree with you. Even if the SSS were valuable for maintaining readiness for a draft, forcible conscription is one of the most morally reprehensible actions ever practiced by the government on a large scale that hasn't been repudiated. It is the very definition of temporarily enslaving people and sending them off to die (killing them if they try to quit).