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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."
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Viking Kitty/ZOT ping list!. . . don't be shy.
That took a while! LOL!
Its not your fault, you’re a victim......
Until you get rid of that, its going to be tough. You have to be ready to accept responsibility, regardless of whether you believe that “someone should have told you.”
Fill out your registration; they don’t want to draft you anyway.
Because he was in jail when he was required to register, and the jailors knew that the military wouldn't want him, so they didn't bother to tell him to register. His probation officer should have told him.
("mustagn sally" was much more entertaining!)
Just fake one. Obongo did it, you can do it too.
So, basically, you’re saying you should get a pass because you “didn’t know”?
If that was allowed everyone would ignore the rules and just say, “I didn’t know.” Why, then, should we have rules at all?
“That took a while! LOL!”
“Tis not deep, but twill serve”
Billy Bob Shakespeare
Hiya JR.
How you are?
You joined to post THAT?
I recall thinking around the time I was turning 18, that there wasn't any official communication from the gov't telling me that I was required to register for the Selective Service. I only knew through word of mouth.
Now, Vietnam was still raging at that time, so "word of mouth" about this was very prevalent among guys my age.
Still, a guy could probably have just not signed up, then claimed ignorance if the authorities ever hassled him.
Stressed...CA Professional Engineer exams this weekend...you?
Thanks. It is strange. I was able to get on to it a few months ago. I am out of the country. I have tried to get onto it from three different computers and get the same result. They must be blocking access to it from outside the country. Guess I will have to try it through a proxy.
About to start a new biz. Good luck with the exams.
>>> “That makes me wonder — if a female has a sex change operation after her 18th birthday, would she/he have to register for selective service?”
Incredibly, one of the links posted upthread answered this. I even think it was the official sss.gov one.
In short: a male who was born a female is not required to register. Not specifically addressed is whether a female born a male is still required to register. Of course it’s a moot point in terms of actually serving, but you can count on it that some extremely disturbed individual with an axe to grind is working on it right now, LOL.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to hit on your platoon, and then “admit” that you were gay?
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