Posted on 10/22/2009 9:43:13 AM PDT by Jeremiah1
When I found out about the selective service registration I was devastated. I am 32 yrs. old, have a wife and three children and am struggling to make dinner much less a future. I was recently layed off for the second time in 1 yr. Going back to the unemployment office was something I dreaded. I heard that President Obama made it possible to recieve unemployment benefits while attending school to change your career!! Fantastic, I thought. After alot of thought and planning my wife and I decided this was best for our family. I went to my local college, filled out all the forms and registered. I paid the non refundable fees which left us with 60.00 to our names thinking, it will be alright. I was told to fill out an FAFSA application online to pay for the schooling, great because there is no way I could afford the schooling to become an electrical engineer. I fill it all out and am told my schooling is covered %100. Things were finally looking up until I was told that there was a problem with my application processing. I was told that I never registered for the selective service. I had never heard of the selective service before that email. I called the number in the email for the selective service. They explained this is the law and by the time your 18 and blah blah blah. No one told me, not school, not friends, not family!!! No one!!! I was told , Sir, I'm sure someone told you to go to the post office and fill out the card. No, no one did. Why wouldn't I have done it I asked. See, for me the military wasn't an option. I wanted to join the military while still in high school. My best friend entered the delayed entry program for the Marine Corps, I wanted to go Navy. All my mother had to do was sign the paperwork but she wouldn't , she said No. There was nothing the recruiter could do. I had just turned 16 yrs. old at that time. I was put out of the house that year for a multitude of reasons both my wrongs and my mothers. I was on the streets and bounced from friends houses, to the woods and then finally Jail. I turned 18 yrs. old in jail. As soon as I got out of jail I went to my local recruiters office to enlist only to find that I must first complete my 5 yrs of probation. Meanwhile it is discovered that I have bipolarism. The military wouldn't have taken me anyway. From age 17 to 26 was spent either in jail or on the street waiting for jail. I didn't have any real family or friends or any kind of hope. People didn't bother to lend a hand much less inform me of some post card. The worst part about this is that at 32 years old it is hard for me to find work even though I earned 2 diplomas in prison. I commited my last crime over 12 years ago. I now have a family of 5 that all depend on me through God and I can't return to school and become a more productive member of society like I did while incarcerated. All because of a secret post card. What may be common knowledge to some isn't so common to others. I think G.I. Joe said it best with, "And knowing is half the battle." They could've put the selective service requirements in the credits, I would've known, would be starting school in a few weeks and wouldn't be thinking of becoming a bigger criminal than I ever was before. See now I feel like I don't belong, I have never belonged and no matter what I do I get knocked down, it makes you want to knock back. Then I think of those other 4 innocent family members of mine. I just don't know what to do at this point. I will lose my home and everything I worked for to provide these 3 children the life I never had and my own government is helping that happen. To boot, now they accept felons in the service and it still doesn't help me. Isn't the service a federal job? How many enlisted felons serving in Iraq never filed a selective service registration? My grandfather, who is a WWII Veteran said with tears, "Jer, this isn't the same country I fought for and watched so much sacrificed for."
Paragraphs are your friend, newbie.
SNIFF
IBTZ!
Paragraphs are also unkown to you.
IBTZ
And now it will be discovered that you are a follower of ZOTunism!
ZOT!!!
He's right, they had a much better command of the written word.
Try ACORN, I hear that they are hiring and from your life story, you are certainly qualified. I don’t think that the Electrical Engineer thing would have worked out anyway.
Joined 10-22-09. Take with a grain of salt.
Today’s installment of “It sucks to be you.”
Oh, boy!! We haven’t had a good Troll Roast in a long time!!
Welcome to FR, joined today? And then posted this drivel? Not very informed, are we?
I think this is axelbookmite’s first life... perhaps he was right.
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Jeremiah1
Since Oct 22, 2009
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Shoulda stopped before your FIRST crime.
Are you President Obama? He didn’t register with Selective Services either. And his grandfather served in WWII (possibly with the Soviet army, I’m not sure — but I do recall that he helped liberate Auschwitz).
Seriously! I call BS on this. How can you not know about Selective Service?
(same way that paragraphs seem to be foreign to this person, I reckon)
Where can I send you money?
To be fair, I wasn’t told by anyone at school or home to do so. I saw a sign in the local post office describing it while I was an earlier teen. Even that was somewhat coincidental, as our family never came into town to get mail, as we lived in the country.
Strangely, there is no entity I’m aware of that is required to assure this information to each young male.
That said, you might be able to contact 0bama and see how he got his Selective Service post card accepted just prior to the election.
You have 2 degrees, and you want to change careers? I understand you may wish to become an Electrical Engineer, but there has to be something you can do with the degrees you already have.
If your failure to register with SS is preventing you from returning to school, you will just have to go a different way.
I know things can seem dark, but the important thing is that you and that family of yours are together, everything else is icing. If you lose your home, it stinks, it may not seem fair, but that doesn’t change anything. Your family is not defined by a house, its defined by the people in it, as long as you are together, you will be ok.
Good luck to you, focus on what you need to do for your family since the primary plan didn’t work out, I am sure you’ll do fine as long as you don’t give up.
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