From until , during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means. In the summer of , registration was resumed.
Presently, young men must register within 30 days of their 18th birthday. View Historical Timeline. The first Vietnam lottery, held on December 1, , brought with it many changes to prior Selective Service System procedures and protocols.
This event determined the order of call for induction during calendar year The Selective Service System has changed a lot since the s. A series of reforms during the latter part of the Vietnam conflict changed the way the draft operated to make it more fair and equitable. Learn more about our fair and equitable system.
In , pay for new recruits and draftees was about 60 percent of comparable civilian pay. The services had differing experiences. The Army, though, would have more difficulty with an AVF than the other services. The services put more recruiters in the field and hired advertising agencies to support their efforts. To the disgust of many old-timers, a new way of thinking took hold. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. An early one eliminated restrictions on the wear of civilian clothes on base when off duty.
Another permitted beer-vending machines in enlisted and officer quarters. The most famous Z-Gram was No. Z-Gram 57 allowed sailors who lived off base to travel to and from work in duty uniforms, including dungarees. Previously they had to wear the uniform of the day or better to travel, change into work uniforms at work, then change again to go home. Zumwalt encountered opposition mainly from two sources: hard-line admirals and angry chief petty officers.
They thought his reforms undermined discipline, and the chiefs did not like it that perquisites it took them years to earn were awarded immediately to junior sailors. The news media ate it up and made Zumwalt a star.
Carson, Colo. Lewis Hershey is razzed by a small group of demonstrators outside the Selective Service headquarters in The Air Force, with little Mickey Mouse to eliminate, was at a disadvantage in finding things to fix. At a press briefing in December , Lt. Robert J. Dixon, the deputy chief of staff for personnel, announced that the Air Force was reducing inspections and giving airmen more time off to settle their families when reassigned. The marines said they were going to keep their traditions and their short haircuts and that those who regarded it as Mickey Mouse need not apply.
Incredible though it may seem in retrospect, the burning issue was haircuts. Before , Air Force grooming standards had been vague. They said that hair had to be neat and trim, which was sufficient definition for previous generations. In the era of Z-Grams, specificity was required. Zumwalt wore his own sideburns to the longest length permitted. The uproar about hair and mustaches finally faded away as long hair went out of fashion and hard-liners who insisted on buzz cuts retired from the services.
The advertising agency dream of a permissive military gave way to more reasonable goals. The members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff l-r : Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr. The services took different approaches to recruit an all-volunteer force. Young men would still be required to register with their draft boards. As the final days of the draft approached, many expressed worry that the AVF would not attract sufficient recruits or that it would pull in only those who could not get a job elsewhere.
The National Guard and the reserves, about 75 percent of whose membership stemmed from the pressure of the draft, were of particular concern. The most frequent problem anticipated, though, was that the volunteer force would not be representative of society at large. The last draft call went out in December William C.
Another opponent of the volunteer force was Sen. Sam Nunn D-Ga. Some loose ends soon were tied up. President Ford in gave conditional amnesty to American draft evaders. In , Ford also issued an executive order ending standby draft registration. In , President Carter declared a new broader amnesty for draft evaders and war resisters. In , Carter and Congress approved resumption of draft registration in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
It continues in effect today. Young men are required to register with their draft boards within 30 days of turning Proposals to reinstitute the draft have never vanished completely. Bernard W. Rogers, Army Chief of Staff, and Adm. Thomas B. Hayward, the Navy CNO, called for a return to conscription. The Hollow Force problems were solved instead by the Reagan rearmament programs of the s. The calamities predicted by critics of the AVF did not occur.
If registration continues, and if there ever again is a draft in the U. One common belief is that maintaining draft registration bolsters the link between civilians and soldiers , which has weakened significantly since the U. Some experts suggest that such a weak civilian-military connection contributes to a number of problems, including a lack of familiarity with the military, a military that is not representative of society and an unfair distribution of the human costs of war.
But the Selective Service System is not designed to address those issues. Evidence shows that registration shapes society only when it is accompanied by a draft — though not always in ways that national leaders might hope. During the Cold War draft , men factored military service into their life choices by marrying, having children, going to college or choosing professions that offered them legal deferments from the draft. That, in turn, introduced inequities into the draft, undermining the legitimacy of the process.
Men with means, especially white men, were significantly more likely to obtain a deferment than working-class men, particularly men of color. The government seems to have learned from that experience. If the draft ever were renewed, these types of deferments would likely not be allowed.
But many more Americans reach draft-eligible age each year than the military could possibly use. Any new draft would still raise new questions about the fairness of who serves and who does not.
Any major conflict with a great power adversary — however unlikely — would require a much larger military than the country has at present. Registration is supposed to provide Selective Service with a list of everyone eligible to be drafted and their contact information. In this way, he would be spared the uncertainty of waiting until his 26th birthday to be certain he would not be drafted.
If a draft were held TODAY, a registrant would be guaranteed a personal appearance before his board if he wanted to appeal his classification. Before , a draftee was not guaranteed this right, and so some decisions about whether a man would be drafted were made based on paperwork. Today, if a man wanted to appeal to his Local Board for an exemption or deferment, he could speak to them directly.
Changes From Vietnam to Now.
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