President Roosevelt signs the Burke-Wadsworth conscription bill in the presence of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson; Congressman Andrew J. May, chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee; General George C. Marshall; and Senator Morris Sheppard, chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, September 16, 1940. (GCMRL/Photographs, 7084)
On this day in 1940, congress enacted The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and President Roosevelt signed it into law two days later.
Wiki tells us: It was the first peacetime conscription in United States history. This Selective Service Act required that men who had reached their 21st birthday but had not yet reached their 36th birthday register with local draft boards. Later, when the U.S. entered World War II, all men from their 18th birthday until the day before their 45th birthday were made subject to military service, and all men from their 18th birthday until the day before their 65th birthday were required to register.
The act required all American men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register for the draft. Draftees were selected by lottery. If drafted, a man served for 12 months. Inductees had to remain in the Western Hemisphere or in United States possessions or territories located in other parts of the world. The act provided that not more than 900,000 men were to be in training at any one time.
Section 5 (g) of the Act contained a provision for conscientious objection:
Nothing contained in this Act shall be constructed to require any person to be subject to combatant training and service in the land and naval forces of the United States who, by reason of religious training and belief, is conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form.
Any such person claiming such exemption from combatant training and service because of such conscientious objections whose claim is sustained by the local draft board shall, if he is inducted into the land or naval forces under this Act, be assigned to noncombatant service as defined by the President, or shall if he is found to be conscientiously opposed to participation in such noncombatant service, in lieu of such induction, be assigned to work of national importance under civilian direction.
On this September 14th, such a draft of youth across country is needed to come to the aid of their country now in crises coast to coast. A universal draft of everyone’s 18th and 19th year for national service geared to each’s best ability, whether civil or military, would be a benefit and a win win for citizens and country.
in drafting congress to draft legislation to not let dreamers drift away
wapo:
Trump, top Democrats agree to work on deal to save ‘dreamers’ from deportation
Democratic leaders announced late Wednesday that they agreed with President Trump to pursue a legislative deal that would protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation and enact border security measures that don’t include building a physical wall.
The president discussed options during a dinner at the White House with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that also included talks on tax reform, infrastructure and trade. Trump has showed signs of shifting strategy to cross the aisle and work with Democrats in the wake of the high-profile failures by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Trump, however, appeared to send shifting signals Thursday on how far he would go with Democrats over signature issues such as the border wall and the fate of so-called undocumented “dreamers.”
In a series of tweets, Trump wrote that “no deal” was made on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an Obama-era program that has allowed 690,000 dreamers to work and go to school without fear of deportation. He further wrote that agreements on “massive border security” would have to accompany any new DACA provisions, and insisted that “the WALL will continue to be built.”
I graduated from high school in 1970 and went straight to college. My dad and every one of my uncles either served in WWII or were serving when I went to college. Not one of them encouraged me to delay college in order to go into the service. My father’s brother-in-law was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. He told me do not, do not, go to Vietnam instead of college. He had just finished a stint with air force intelligence in Saigon. I appreciate the service of all who went, but I don’t regret my decision one bit. Because I had a high draft number, I never would’ve gone whether I had a college deferment or not. All that said, I certainly would support a limited draft that offers alternatives other than military service.
Donald Trump’s not pivoting. He’s not changing. He’s just crazy.
I think it’s a great idea to have kids fresh out of high school doing some sort of service in this country. I agree with Pogo that service should be other than military service.
Pogo… Rick did the same… went straight to college. His draft number was 2.
I was not thriving at Kenyon–I felt that I was simply relearning the things that I had learned in greater depth at the prep school that I was so fortunate in attending. Dean Tom and I agreed that a stint in the military might not be a bad idea. I withdrew from school, spent a year on the job in the family business, and on the first of July 1961 enlisted in the Regular Army. I could have chosen any specialty I wanted based on my qualification scores. Instead, I left it up to them. At Fort Knox I went through more testing in the week before my basic training started. Finally, my orders arrived shortly before the end of August; I was to go to Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, for training as a Guided Missile Propellants and Explosives Specialist. The dozen or so new soldiers who arrived to take the training were the first group to be trained in that specialty. We were provided the best NCOs they could find to teach us the ins and outs of working with hypergolic propellants on missiles to be tipped with you-name-it. It was fascinating and tailored to my aptitudes. There were no draftees in my basic training company or in my class at Aberdeen. When I finally had a chance to serve with some tremendous draftees in Korea, they were drawn from a different pool. Most were in their early 20s, like 22 or 23 as opposed to the typical enlistee… Read more »
I’ve long thought we send kids to college too soon.
Clinton gave us the framework: AmeriCorps
Just a reminder that our friends at ShelterBox are already on the ground helping with devastation from Harvey and Irma
Responding To Ferocious Storm
Donation Page
Most countries have some form of “Gap Year” prior to university or at some point during their education. A good look at the real world benefits young people about to take on adult responsibilities that they weren’t prepared for by early education.
Certainly there are many projects that could benefit for a volunteer Army of young and enthusiastic people wanting to serve.
Glad to hear you have power, Craig. Shingles is a tricky virus and mostly for us older humans as the younger population has been vaccinated against chicken pox. I have been vaccinated for shingles in my 60’s, but that vaccine does not work as well in older humans 70+. An new vaccine has been developed for better efficacy in older humans. Check with your Dad’s doc to see if he should be vaccinated after his painful infection.
There is a difference between education and college and getting a trade. It is more of the dying of bricks and mortar institutions and the upkeep costs that have moved the classroom online or on electronic broadcast. The trade/college/university system is suffering from being tied to the’bricks and mortar’ retail of education…most can be done or sold online. Classes are getting done digitally, not wasting gas or time to visit an archaic shop. We ‘campus’ differently these days.
My much-older cousin served in something called Vista after college.
Maybe Donny is planning to have the DACA kids “continue” to build the wall once they pass of the age of minority in order to stay. It wouldn’t surprise me.
Did he really say, “continue to be built”? Has his imagination run so far away that he sees the beginnings of his wall???
So, now the UEA is involved in the Russian backchannel story. Wow. Every day a new player. Someone should create a board game based on 2016.
Funny, we used to be able to afford bricks and mortar.
Where is all the money going, I mean, besides to Big Oil (inc. Arabia/Iran/Venezuela), Big Pharma, Big Gunz, the M/iC, Exec Mansions & Mega Mansions, Big Ads, and Big Athletics ?
Renee – a draft No. of 2 during Vietnam would have been incentive aplenty to study hard and stay in school. For my year the highest number called for processing was 125. My number was 162. I recall only one of my high school classmates getting called up – great kid, and he lived through his Vietnam experience. By the time I got to grad school I knew quite a few guys who had been in the service. None had great things to say about their VN experience but none had bad things to say about their comrades in arms.
Pogo, I totally agree with your last sentence.
Maybe the false teacher of the Apocalypse dreams that as part of the road to citizenship he can make each Dreamer turn in a parent. I mean, besides building that khrushchev-style wall.
Pogo, I retired in the top enlisted Air Force rank, chief master sergeant. When I meet someone who identifies himself as a draftee who chose to serve, I give him an extra-special thanks; the options to avoid or evade were certainly there.
2 years doing hard and dirty work or Peace Corps. 2 1/2 years doing cushy work. Barracks, proper diet, no tv/video games, cell phones, radio, dope, getting anyone pregnant, getting pregnant, or getting piercings/tattoos.
Hard & dirty work might include disaster relief/rescue or retrieval of old landmines around the planet.
Flatus, and well you should. And you. too, are entitled to an extra special thanks. In 1961 I might have made a different decision. In 1970 there was nothing particularly appealing about the prospect of going into the enlisted ranks. This from a kid who played army throughout his childhood and whose 3rd grade hero was Steve Canyon and whose favorite relative visits were to my aunt, uncle and cousins at Maxwell AFB.
XR, that last one might require some specialized training.
xr,
When I said avoid, I was thinking about Trump and his BS deferments. I didn’t and wouldn’t place Alternative service such as the Peace Corps, in the same category. One of my nephews spent a couple of years (1980s) in sub-Saharan Africa in the Peace Corps. It has been a positive life changing experience for him.
I am so glad that I chose an enlisted rather than an officer career. As a senior nco I had the duty to tell it as I saw it; officers didn’t have that same freedom. In technical matters I had a near photographic memory. If there was a heated discussion about the proper/right way to do something, if placed in the position of having to back-up my words, I would do it by giving the manual identification the page number and paragraph number. It left people shaking their heads.
Jamie, unless you’re drunk with power I’m prepared to revoke application of the 25th Amendment and resume the reins. Things getting back to normal enough here at Southern Command. Front yard almost cleaned up, the pool almost there, the back 40 will take many more days but not high priority. I’d say we’re missile ready again.
Jamie, you can challenge that to the cabinet
Glad to have you back aboard Captain My Captain. Do you want to do Friday?
Just whistle if I’m needed again. Otherwise now retired basking in my new found fame with a big thank you to Patd for her contributions.
Flatus, agreed. I’ve known two people who had two very different Peace Corps experiences in sub-Saharan Africa. The first went to Mali, where she got some horrific disease right off the bat. As soon as she recovered the local governor decided that Uncle Sam had sent her over to become his concubine. It interfered with her work teaching English, to say the least.
The other one was also pestered by an amorous governor (maybe the same one) but was not deterred. She had a grand time, and was happy to re-up for tour in Tanzania. After that, she continued to work for both non-profit and for-profit corps in sub-Saharan Africa for about 12 years. She has enjoyed life to the fullest.
A half dozen other friends have served in the Peace Corps, in India, Thailand, Peru, & Ecuador, and they all loved it. However, all of these friends and acquaintances lived in and amid what most Americans would call filth, disease, deprivation, and utmost poverty.
can do Friday Jamie, yes. As VA staffers unfailingly say to patients, “Thank you for your service.”
Flatus, my BIL was an NCO in the army – spent most of his career in SK. Said Kim Jung Il was nutz. Says Kim Jung Un is nutsier. The Army saved him without doubt. If he hadn’t gone into service I have no doubt he would either be dead or in prison. My BIL was definitely not CO material – with his personality he would have no doubt been shot in the back in a “training accident” and the investigation would have been short and result in no charges or reprimands to those involved.
Craig, how’s your dad doing? Better with AC & ice?
whew…that was a close one. so glad craig’s back in the saddle. have been shaking in my boots here on the bench as back-up quarterback. boy, trail mixers, you never got so near a techno disaster with me having to push the button (almost as disastrous as the nuke button in twit’s little grimy paw). the trail would have ended up surely under some troll bridge or lost forever.
Jamie, thank you for prettifying my thread and sorry for the hassle you had to go thru to find it. see what I mean? total dunce to things electronic with bells whistles and jargon I don’t understand. give me parchment and inked quill or stylus and stone and i’m up there with the best! well, not the best, but at least your computers don’t crash, the e cloud throw lightning bolts, and fearless leader gets sued for running a blog of mass destruction.
Much better, Pogo, with our modern conveniences back. After all he has been through health-wise, this new stuff barely fazes him. Do think we caught it early enough that the symptoms of neither condition are as bad as could be.
Answering SJ’s question from yesterday. Toby is fascinated by the piles and piles of tree debris. Has closely inspected each one and peed on them all.
no way, jose`
go away
from cnn: Tropical Storm Jose’s path shifts west toward US
The so-called cone of uncertainty for Tropical Storm Jose now includes North Carolina’s Outer Banks after the National Hurricane Center shifted its forecast west Thursday.
The cone shows the probable track of the center of a storm over a five-day period.
With maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, Jose was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm in the hurricane center’s 11 a.m. ET advisory. The storm is expected to restrengthen and become a hurricane again by this weekend, the center said. […. story continues….]
Off to Kroger. Thomas Bagels are bogo
boss, you might want to arrange an official trail memorial for cassini for us tomorrow.
uh oh, trouble in paradise. do I hear a “you’re fired” about to erupt?
John Kelly Is Trump’s ‘Nanny’ and Tells Him What to Wear, Some Say
Lee and Maria are warming up
Tropical Traffic Stays Brisk
ny times: Trump Humiliated Jeff Sessions After Mueller Appointment
WASHINGTON — Shortly after learning in May that a special counsel had been appointed to investigate links between his campaign associates and Russia, President Trump berated Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an Oval Office meeting and said the attorney general should resign, according to current and former administration officials and others briefed on the matter.
The president blamed the appointment of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, on Mr. Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation — a move Mr. Trump believes was the moment his administration effectively lost control over the inquiry. Accusing Mr. Sessions of “disloyalty,” Mr. Trump unleashed a string of insults on his attorney general.
Ashen and emotional, Mr. Sessions told the president he would quit and sent a resignation letter to the White House, according to four people who were told details of the meeting. Mr. Sessions would later tell associates that the demeaning way the president addressed him was the most humiliating experience in decades of public life.
[….continues…]
Kind of what Kelly said after his dressing down from PG
I regret to say with me there would be no second chance. I don’t burn bridges I blow them up No one yells at me (except Mr Cracker and only when I’ve started yelling at him.)
no Korea sent yet another missile blasting across wimpy trump’s limp red line.
I expect this former macho-dude-in-chief of ours to blast hot air right back. Well, maybe luke warm.
Ms Cracker,
Yes, M’ ! I’d have broken the anal-pore-in-chief’s presidential chin bone, and prolly my right fist with it.
New documentary from Ken Burns on the way: Vietnam
trumplestiltskin has been speaking out of both sides of his mouth this week and I don’t trust either side! Especially about DACA. I’m sure he would only do something for those kids if they trade off their families or do enforced labor building a wall for no pay or something equally ridiculous. You can never trust a liar!
Keith made me feel better as always though:
PS: I submitted a post. Don’t know if it will show up anywhere with the changing of the guard I just read about so let me know if it gets lost in the shuffle.
PPSS: I am all in favor of a draft for public service to our country as long as it’s administered and allocated fairly with no special rules for the rich and equal service choices for all too regardless of race, creed, lifestyle, money, or immigration standing.
I am for a universal service requirement it doesn’t have to be the military but everyone over 18 men and women
It’s so hard to watch Hillary Clinton on Rachel Maddow show tonight and think how much of a fucking travesty it is that idiot in chief SFB is the President of the United States. Goddamit!!!
Granny, SFB could talk glowingly about dreamers knowing that Mertle and the frat boy won’t let a DACA bill from Dems onto the floor of the house or senate and since the WH doesn’t “do” writing legislation he might as well be announcing a joint venture with NK to establish a colony on Jupiter.
Granny
Looked in the Posts and Craig has one in draft and yours is there as well. So it is in the pipeline and he now has the reins again.
Toby marks the territory & raises the flag ?
Thanks Jamie, just popped over to check if I needed to post it again.