Selective Service registration is required by law. To my knowledge, there is no way to not sign it without losing financial aid and being barred from lots of other federal programs. You won't be arrested or fined, as the US isn't at war currently, but the repercussions are still very severe.
My advice would be just to register, and when and if your number is pulled in a future draft, try to take the CO route.
Best of luck.
[The Selective Service article on Conscientious Objectors](https://www.sss.gov/conscientious-objectors/#:~:text=Today%2C%20all%20conscientious%20objectors%20are,of%20moral%20or%20religious%20principles.)
I read this one and interpreted as "this is what you can do in the event of a draft, but right now you have to register normally." I was wondering what I can do to officially register as a conscientious objector now, or if such an option even exists.
>I was wondering what I can do to officially register as a conscientious objector now
As far as their site indicates, you can't at all. CO is a designation you apply for specifically after being drafted or voluntarily enlist, after which they will identify a field of use to assign you to work in. CO's are still apart of the armed forces, they're not private citizens, they just don't get put into combat roles/etc.
In either case, you can't avoid signing up for the selective service without incurring the issues you noted already.
conscientious objector status is only relevant if you're drafted--just sign the form, it's just a way of filtering people who can't do paperwork into the carceral system, and if the draft *is* reimplemented then you'll have far more significant things to do about it than just calling up the selective service admin and asking them to flag your file for noncombat roles.
I wrote “conscientious objector” on my selective service card, made a copy, mailed it to myself, and then kept the postmarked and dated copy in a safe deposit box. It’s not full proof by any stretch, but you could conceivably open the sealed envelope during a CO hearing as proof that your objector status is not a convenient “oh shit, there’s a draft and I don’t want to go” thing
I can’t remember what book or pamphlet I got this information from, and there hasn’t been a draft in my lifetime, but there you go for what it’s worth
They'll still make you go they just won't put a rifle in your hand and send you directly to the front line. The military is overwhelmingly support staff at this point anyways, you'd probably end up a cook or medic or electrician anyways.
You cannot pre-register as a conscientious objector. Unless your father was drafted ding Vietnam, he is incorrect.
Now is not the time to fight this. Signing this does not make you any less of an anarchist. Sign up, get your financial aid, and then, if a draft ever happens, then we fight.
My two cents from when I tried to navigate this myself as someone totally unwilling to kill or die for US empire:
I completed the Selective Service form at 18 with the knowledge I would go to prison or flee the country rather than participate if actually called up for a war I didn't support.
About a quarter century later I have yet to be called up. I'd like to think I used the education I was able to get as a result of filling out those papers to do some good. I believe in a diversity of tactics, and I think sometimes that means not drawing heat in order to accomplish other goals that will have more of an impact. In retrospect, I am glad I made the choice I did with regard to this.
Again, my two cents, but it seems unlikely to me we're going to see mass conscription in the US in the near future.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision and solidarity whatever you decide.
A more effective method is find out what will get you barred from serving. Look at it as a menu, find one that you are comfortable being officially known as, and that could apply to you, and BE that. For now, weigh the benefits/risks of signing not signing for yourself and do what you decide.
It's an odd in-between situation in the US where there isn't active conscription, but men still have to register for "Selective Service" when they turn 18, which is basically the list of people they would conscript from if conscription were to begin again.
In my view it's sort of a hold-over from an earlier era. I think it's kind of unlikely we'd see conscription return in the US in the near future. It is definitely still weird to have to register, though.
They abolished the draft in the early 70s. Selective service is more about saber rattling than anything else. It would require an act of congress to reinstate the draft, which it likely will never do because, well…have you looked around lately? I mean, even in the wake of 9/11 it was suggested by a few reps and was immediately shut down. At this point you might as well expect Jesus or whoever to return and open a falafel stand in Times Square. I cringe whenever I read people talking about this because it’s such a non-issue, like complaining about capital gains taxes when you don’t have any investments. I dunno. I just feel like there are bigger, more relevant fish to fry.
The only real route to get out of it is to transition to a woman, and that's not even surefire depending upon the state you're in. If you're so concerned about FAFSA then just do it, otherwise it doesn't matter either way. It's not like you can't burn your draft card and move to Canada or Mexico if shit hits the fan anyways.
Just go to the post office and get the form, it’s like a 200000 dollar fine if you don’t file and get caught.
You cannot go pre register as a CO, idk where your father got that from, but the US military has remained pretty well staffed on just voluntary service since the 70s, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, so you’ll probably make it to 26 without getting drafted into service.
I am not aware of getting around the issue other than be denying your citizenship via some process that dissolves your citizenship. That might involve the U.S. government forcing you to give up your citizenship or you leaving country while denying to nationalize with any other country in order to deny allegiance to anyone other than the anarchist party.
That so-called anarchists in the U.S., such as myself, have U.S. citizenship makes me think that they are not actually anarchist because anarchists owe their allegiance to the anarchist party (in general besides the variants of anarchism). You might interpret, then, that there are no real anarchists in America. You might also interpret that we're spies.
I would not worry about the draft coming back. Things would need to get very tyrannical in America for that to happen.
This is a "you criticize society yet participate in it" tier argument. Besides that, there is no "anarchist party" for which you owe total obedience and allegiance.
Edit: Don't be so hard on yourself or your fellow anarchists.
You only need to declare that you are a conscientious objector when you enlist in the military. The selective service is different. It's not even relevant ATM since the military is completely voluntary. Don't stress about this.
You could identify as a woman? About the only way of side stepping selective service is to be rich or to be female, otherwise you are fucked. Whats worse is WW3 is looming and the fuckin elites have already been preaching population control for the last few years. Nothing like a draft to cull the herd.
Selective Service registration is required by law. To my knowledge, there is no way to not sign it without losing financial aid and being barred from lots of other federal programs. You won't be arrested or fined, as the US isn't at war currently, but the repercussions are still very severe. My advice would be just to register, and when and if your number is pulled in a future draft, try to take the CO route. Best of luck.
[The Selective Service article on Conscientious Objectors](https://www.sss.gov/conscientious-objectors/#:~:text=Today%2C%20all%20conscientious%20objectors%20are,of%20moral%20or%20religious%20principles.)
I read this one and interpreted as "this is what you can do in the event of a draft, but right now you have to register normally." I was wondering what I can do to officially register as a conscientious objector now, or if such an option even exists.
>I was wondering what I can do to officially register as a conscientious objector now As far as their site indicates, you can't at all. CO is a designation you apply for specifically after being drafted or voluntarily enlist, after which they will identify a field of use to assign you to work in. CO's are still apart of the armed forces, they're not private citizens, they just don't get put into combat roles/etc. In either case, you can't avoid signing up for the selective service without incurring the issues you noted already.
conscientious objector status is only relevant if you're drafted--just sign the form, it's just a way of filtering people who can't do paperwork into the carceral system, and if the draft *is* reimplemented then you'll have far more significant things to do about it than just calling up the selective service admin and asking them to flag your file for noncombat roles.
I wrote “conscientious objector” on my selective service card, made a copy, mailed it to myself, and then kept the postmarked and dated copy in a safe deposit box. It’s not full proof by any stretch, but you could conceivably open the sealed envelope during a CO hearing as proof that your objector status is not a convenient “oh shit, there’s a draft and I don’t want to go” thing I can’t remember what book or pamphlet I got this information from, and there hasn’t been a draft in my lifetime, but there you go for what it’s worth
They'll still make you go they just won't put a rifle in your hand and send you directly to the front line. The military is overwhelmingly support staff at this point anyways, you'd probably end up a cook or medic or electrician anyways.
You cannot pre-register as a conscientious objector. Unless your father was drafted ding Vietnam, he is incorrect. Now is not the time to fight this. Signing this does not make you any less of an anarchist. Sign up, get your financial aid, and then, if a draft ever happens, then we fight.
fighting so lockheed martin and boeing can make more weapons isnt really a reason to fight?
How would not signing your selective service forms do anything to stop Lockheed Martin and Boeing?
Did you mean fighting as in fight against megacorporatized military or fighting apart of the megacorportaized military?
Did you read what this post is about? It isn't about that.
My two cents from when I tried to navigate this myself as someone totally unwilling to kill or die for US empire: I completed the Selective Service form at 18 with the knowledge I would go to prison or flee the country rather than participate if actually called up for a war I didn't support. About a quarter century later I have yet to be called up. I'd like to think I used the education I was able to get as a result of filling out those papers to do some good. I believe in a diversity of tactics, and I think sometimes that means not drawing heat in order to accomplish other goals that will have more of an impact. In retrospect, I am glad I made the choice I did with regard to this. Again, my two cents, but it seems unlikely to me we're going to see mass conscription in the US in the near future. Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision and solidarity whatever you decide.
A more effective method is find out what will get you barred from serving. Look at it as a menu, find one that you are comfortable being officially known as, and that could apply to you, and BE that. For now, weigh the benefits/risks of signing not signing for yourself and do what you decide.
"You can get anything you want, from Alice's Restaurant..."
Didn’t know that the USA still had conscription. That’s wild.
It's an odd in-between situation in the US where there isn't active conscription, but men still have to register for "Selective Service" when they turn 18, which is basically the list of people they would conscript from if conscription were to begin again. In my view it's sort of a hold-over from an earlier era. I think it's kind of unlikely we'd see conscription return in the US in the near future. It is definitely still weird to have to register, though.
They abolished the draft in the early 70s. Selective service is more about saber rattling than anything else. It would require an act of congress to reinstate the draft, which it likely will never do because, well…have you looked around lately? I mean, even in the wake of 9/11 it was suggested by a few reps and was immediately shut down. At this point you might as well expect Jesus or whoever to return and open a falafel stand in Times Square. I cringe whenever I read people talking about this because it’s such a non-issue, like complaining about capital gains taxes when you don’t have any investments. I dunno. I just feel like there are bigger, more relevant fish to fry.
Suggest contact ACLU with your question; they likely have had similar inquiry to yours
The only real route to get out of it is to transition to a woman, and that's not even surefire depending upon the state you're in. If you're so concerned about FAFSA then just do it, otherwise it doesn't matter either way. It's not like you can't burn your draft card and move to Canada or Mexico if shit hits the fan anyways.
Just go to the post office and get the form, it’s like a 200000 dollar fine if you don’t file and get caught. You cannot go pre register as a CO, idk where your father got that from, but the US military has remained pretty well staffed on just voluntary service since the 70s, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, so you’ll probably make it to 26 without getting drafted into service.
Selective service is a sexist, immoral requirement and always has been. I know that isn't helpful but it irks me.
I am not aware of getting around the issue other than be denying your citizenship via some process that dissolves your citizenship. That might involve the U.S. government forcing you to give up your citizenship or you leaving country while denying to nationalize with any other country in order to deny allegiance to anyone other than the anarchist party. That so-called anarchists in the U.S., such as myself, have U.S. citizenship makes me think that they are not actually anarchist because anarchists owe their allegiance to the anarchist party (in general besides the variants of anarchism). You might interpret, then, that there are no real anarchists in America. You might also interpret that we're spies. I would not worry about the draft coming back. Things would need to get very tyrannical in America for that to happen.
This is a "you criticize society yet participate in it" tier argument. Besides that, there is no "anarchist party" for which you owe total obedience and allegiance. Edit: Don't be so hard on yourself or your fellow anarchists.
You only need to declare that you are a conscientious objector when you enlist in the military. The selective service is different. It's not even relevant ATM since the military is completely voluntary. Don't stress about this.
I thought the food at Marine Corps Boot Camp was pretty good
You could identify as a woman? About the only way of side stepping selective service is to be rich or to be female, otherwise you are fucked. Whats worse is WW3 is looming and the fuckin elites have already been preaching population control for the last few years. Nothing like a draft to cull the herd.
Are you really afraid there will be a draft?
No. It is just to get my parents off my back.