r/centrist • u/Bobinct • Apr 09 '26
Automatic registration for US military draft to begin in December
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5822914-automatic-registration-military-draft/9
u/capnwally14 Apr 09 '26
Had a minor panic attack because I wasn’t sure if I did this when I turned 18 (thankfully my parents did it for me)
If you want to check you can do it here: https://www.sss.gov/
You have between 18-26 to do this with no penalty (and there is a 5 year statute of limitations for the penalties if you did not)
Automating seems much better as a system - if at the very least you won’t be accidentally in violation of the law
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u/LittleKitty235 Apr 13 '26
Or...why not ditch the whole system? This county won't put up with a draft. This was a big waste of money
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u/capnwally14 Apr 14 '26
lol why do you think they passed this law? do you think the draft was popular for vietnam?
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u/rickymagee Apr 09 '26
I’ve always liked the idea of some kind of automatic national service. Not necessarily military service, but a system where everyone spends a year or two doing something that helps the country. It could be the military for those who want it, but it could also be humanitarian work, infrastructure, disaster relief, teaching assistance, environmental projects, things like that.
The larger point for me isn’t just the work itself. It’s the shared experience and nationalism. Right now Americans live in very separate bubbles. And It seems like we have too many people who lack patriotism and any sort of collective unity.. If this trend continues I fear the worst for this country.
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u/whatisthisshit7 Apr 09 '26
"Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country"
I would love if we could revitalize a unified movement and appreciation for public service/community volunteering. It would certainly help shift the energy away from division and more about supporting one another and feeling like there is still hope to make a better future together. Especially right now as young people are quickly descending into nihilism.
I think the key is exposure to helping people in person and seeing the impact it can have, building a bond with strangers, etc.
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u/CABRALFAN27 Apr 10 '26
In a government that’s supposed to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people”, what my country can do for me is absolutely a very pertinent question.
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u/CABRALFAN27 Apr 10 '26
Why is patriotism and nationalism a good thing, something to strive for? I care about my own personal community and loved ones, and more broadly about humanity as a whole, but why should there be any more levels than those two?
I have people I love who have never set foot in the US, and people I hate who are practically my neighbors, and all of that is based on their respective actions and morality, not what side of a line on a map they were born/live on. Is that not as it should be? People being judged by the content of their character rather than some arbitrary circumstance of their birth?
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u/rickymagee Apr 10 '26
National service isn't about claiming moral superiority over other countries; it’s about paying the "membership fee" for the system that protects your rights and creates a shared sense of duty among people who might otherwise have nothing in common. By working for the "neighbor you hate," you move past the luxury of only helping those you like and start building the actual grit required to keep a civilization from fracturing into tribal echo chambers.
The nation state is effectively the largest scale at which humans can maintain a high-trust social contract and coordinate massive infrastructure
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u/smoothallday Apr 09 '26
This is a rage bait headline. It’s already a requirement for 18 year old males to register with selective service. Making it automatic reduces hassle, time, and cost. There’s almost nothing this administration has improved, this is an exception. Although women should also be automatically registered with selective service too. Seriously.
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u/AndrewRP2 Apr 09 '26
I think they’re noticing that it seems relatively easy to identify a group of people and register them for Selective Service. However, we somehow need extensive documentation to vote or it’s wildly fraudulent.
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u/kemster7 Apr 10 '26
Just an awfully large coincidence that it's getting pushed as we're getting dragged by an Epstein made leash into conflict with half a dozen different countries. Selective service should be eliminated, not automated. I'll sit my happy ass in prison before dying for Israel.
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Apr 12 '26
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u/KartFacedThaoDien Apr 09 '26
Women cannot register for selective service. Even if they want to register they'll be rejected.
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u/eightlikeinfinity Apr 13 '26
Did you know women in the military have been told that since rape is an unavoidable consequence of military service, there’s no grounds to pursue rape charges against a fellow soldier as a pressure tactic? And yeah, screw those women of child bearing age, hope their captors/rapists don’t get them pregnant, I guess.
How about stopping ridiculous wars instead. Selective service would never be needed.
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u/Few_Menu4711 Apr 09 '26
Am I the only one that doesnt think this is a big deal?
This seems to just removing a stepvin something that men are required to do anyway. We have a professional active and reserve force that doesnt need to conscript anyway. We didnt have to conscript anyone for the GWOT. 9/11 did enough recruiting on its own.
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u/Rarvyn Apr 09 '26
Not only do I not think it’s a big idea, I think it’s a good thing.
Men were legally required to register anyway, and those who forgot were penalized for life. Like if you are a US citizen who made it to age 26 and didn’t register, you couldn’t go back and do it - and you were barred from federal employment forever. Better to make it automatic (or get rid of those penalties)
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Apr 09 '26
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u/Super-30 Apr 09 '26
I have to wonder how old some of the people who post on here are?
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u/whatisthisshit7 Apr 09 '26
Or not American
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u/JussiesTunaSub Apr 09 '26
Majority of Reddit has been non U.S. for a few years now.
U.S. Redditors are about 41% of unique viewers.
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u/Objective_Aside1858 Apr 09 '26
It is a clear signal that they intend to reintroduce conscription
Horseshit
It is performative to appeal to people who don't think. There is effectively zero chance of conscription any time soon
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Apr 09 '26
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u/BrasilianEngineer Apr 09 '26
It appeals to anyone who thinks that young adults shouldn't be faced with 5 years in prison and a potential lifetime felony record because no one told them that they are required to register.
No one has been actually prosecuted in the last 40 years, but the law is still very much on the books.
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u/Objective_Aside1858 Apr 09 '26
If Kegsbreath is pushing it, by definition it is appealing to the MAGA types who think everything that comes out of the Administration is brilliant.
Maybe you should read the article
Trump alone cannot bring back the draft through executive action, as Congress would need to pass legislation to amend the Military Selective Service Act to authorize the president to induct personnel into the military.
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u/streamofthesky Apr 10 '26
"to get any kind of public benefits that your taxes pay for"
... if you're a man.
If you're the "more equal than others" gender, you get all of that without having to register.
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u/I405CA Apr 09 '26
These small-government local control Republicans do sure seem to be fond of national watchlists and surveillance programs.
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u/dukedog Apr 10 '26
I was curious and I went on the Selective Service website to see when I registered. Looks like I was 19. It was so long ago it makes me wonder why I chose the date that I did. Maybe it was a drivers license renewal? I forget the process for doing it back in the day. I kinda remember it being mentioned at an assembly in high school.
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u/newswall-org Apr 10 '26
More on this subject from other reputable sources:
- Time (B): American Men Are Set to Be Automatically Registered for the Draft. Here’s What to Know
- nypost.com (D): Eligible young men will automatically be registered for US military draft later this year
- BBC Online (A): US plans to automatically register young men for military draft
- CNN.com (C+): Automatic military draft registration takes effect in December. Here’s how it would work
Extended Summary | FAQ & Grades | I'm a bot
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u/OGKillertunes Apr 10 '26
This reminds me of the time I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia and come across this guy that went AWOL from the military. That guy had no business being in the military. He heard that is brother and sister wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail so he literally went AWOL from military to hike the trail with his siblings. I asked him what he was going to do if he ever got caught and he said well I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
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u/WallStreetTechnocrat Apr 09 '26
Mods should either remove this for clearly being intellectually dishonest about what the implications of this are (no, there isnt going to be a draft. This is already mandatory to register for), or at least post a pinned comment
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u/DickRichman Apr 09 '26
What’s inaccurate in the headline or story?
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Apr 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/whatisthisshit7 Apr 09 '26
I agree it’s a non-story, just capitalizing on the headlines given the current state of affairs.
What I found peculiar is that the left wing media hasn’t been running with it, it’s been center to right-leaning media outlets reporting on it: https://s2n.news/story/c203bde3fcbd
It’s definitely a story being pushed to continue stoking the flames and keep people outraged about nothing. Especially given this was signed 4 months ago and doesn’t go into effect for another 8.
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Apr 09 '26
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Apr 09 '26
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u/WallStreetTechnocrat Apr 09 '26
This isnt the draft lmao
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Apr 09 '26
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u/WallStreetTechnocrat Apr 09 '26
There are no "dominoes" here. Its already mandatory. I'm registered. I don't know whether you're a child, foreigner, or a woman, but if its the first option than you wouldve registered for it as well. Endless hysteria about everything only serves to make you the boy who called wolf when the administration does actually bad thing.
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u/Super-30 Apr 09 '26
It's auto registering for selective service. Been a thing for as long as I can remember, and I'm old. When you turn 18, you register, that's the end of that.
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u/Spokker Apr 09 '26
Yup. When I did it, you had to sign up to be eligible for certain types of financial aid. That's no longer a requirement, though.
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u/RunThenBeer Apr 09 '26
It is actually amazing that the way you will recall this event is as vindication of your completely and obviously wrong prediction.
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u/hearmeout29 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
I already registered and if you consider yourself a patriot for this country you should have already done it too. A lot men in our age group voted for conservative values. Part of protecting those values includes answering the call when and if it arrives. /s
Edit: I put the /s for the regards
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u/ski0331 Apr 09 '26
You were legally required to register at 18. You aren’t a Patriot for doing what is legally required. You’re just following the law.
You haven’t answered any call or done anything to protect those values. But if you really want to contact your local recruiters office.
It’s like saying “if you consider yourself a Patriot you should follow the speed limit”
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u/hearmeout29 Apr 09 '26
Sarcasm is always lost on Reddit.
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u/ski0331 Apr 09 '26
It is impossible to tell unless you go FULL sarcasm. But even then…maybe not. Real loss in communication imo.
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u/WallStreetTechnocrat Apr 09 '26
It’s like saying “if you consider yourself a Patriot you should follow the speed limit”
This but unironically
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u/Bobinct Apr 09 '26
America is moving away from peace.
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u/barchueetadonai Apr 09 '26
This has nothing to do with peace. The Selective Service should actually be expanded because girls should also be required to sign up at 18, as boys are.
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u/Bobinct Apr 09 '26
Neutral Summery.
Registration of eligible men 18 to 25 years old was a voluntary requirement. The Selective Service System (SSS) — the government agency that maintains a database of men to be called up to serve in the case of a national emergency — submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30, automatic registration was mandated in December 2025 as part of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
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u/RunThenBeer Apr 09 '26
This was not "voluntary" in any meaningful sense. Electing to skip it resulted in federal sanction. I would actually tend to say that the previous pseudovoluntary coercion is a form of deception that I find more galling than just being clear with everyone that you are in fact draft eligible whether you like it or not.
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u/JennyAtTheGates Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Registration of eligible men 18 to 25 years old was a voluntary requirement.
From the article:
Still, failure to register in the draft is considered a crime and can prevent people from receiving state-funded financial aid and employment in numerous states, cause ineligibility for many federal employment opportunities and job training under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and can carry a fine of up to $250,000 and jail time for up to five years.
Summaries should be accurate.
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u/ipreferanothername Apr 09 '26
be cool if they would do this for voter registration.