The Selective Service System website crashed just hours after the announcement that the U.S. had launched a successful drone strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Suleimani. The website’s crash was due to rumors being spread on social media that rising tensions between Iran and the U.S. would lead to war and a new draft.
The Selective Service sought to calm those fears.
Due to the spread of misinformation, our website is experiencing high traffic volumes at this time. If you are attempting to register or verify registration, please check back later today as we are working to resolve this issue. We appreciate your patience.
— Selective Service (@SSS_gov) January 3, 2020
Meanwhile, the agency had to deal with panicky snowflakes who believed the rumor that applying for a student loan put you at the top of the list to be drafted.
There is no priority order for Selective Service based on the FAFSA form (they use a random lottery number and year of birth).
More info: https://t.co/mJb1YvJaPC 2/2 https://t.co/LqnTAPokPp— Federal Student Aid (@FAFSA) January 3, 2020
The status of women and the draft is unclear at the moment.
A federal judge ruled in February 2019 that an all-male draft was unconstitutional, saying “historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination,” men and women now have many similar roles.
The judge’s decision had no immediate effect as It did not block the government’s current policy. Any appeal by the Selective Service System would go to the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals before it would reach the Supreme Court.
It is uncertain whether it would reach that level. The Selective Service System had urged US District Court Judge Gray Miller to reject the case, largely because the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, appointed by Congress, is now studying the male-only registration policy.
The commission is supposed to develop a report and recommendations by March 2020.
The Selective Service Agency and the draft are anachronisms, holdovers from an age long gone. Any major war in which the U.S. would be involved would be fought with the men, women, and weapons that are already in service. The days of converting washing machine manufacturers to making tanks and training several million men for months before sending them into combat are gone. In modern war, you go into battle with what you already have. No ration cards either.
There wouldn’t be a draft. The military doesn’t want it. The politicians don’t want it. Men and women of draft age don’t want it. Left-wing activists are, of course, hoping for it. The draft radicalized an entire generation of young men and women in the 1960s and nothing would suit the gimlet-eyed revolutionaries of today more than seeing history repeat itself.
It won’t. Fear-mongering by Democrats warning of a war with Iran and a draft are simply trying to use the gullible, terrified snowflakes for political reasons.
You can relax, kids. Uncle Sam doesn’t want you. Neither does any volunteer soldier worth their salt.
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