<p>Thumper,</p>
<p>You are correct. Stafford Loans are not allowed if a student hasn't registered for selective service, so your son should be fine. You can verify his registration on the Selective Service website, just for added peace of mind, though.</p>
<p>Why don't women have to register? Okay so one can debate ad nauseum about women being in combat roles blah blah blah, but simply having them register and if ever required, do some kind of service...why not? </p>
<p>I went to the link and boy did it look like some throwback in time...all males under 26....</p>
<p>^^^ Agreed. Though, from a purely selfish point of view, if they can just wait 6 years 2 months and a few days to change it that will be fine. Though actually my daughter is, and always has been, very into service and is seriously considering peace corps. Even that makes me a little nervous in the current times.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Why don't women have to register?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Write your Congressperson, or better yet, Speaker Pelosi.</p>
<p>No one has ever been drafted into the Peace Corps. </p>
<p>Men, and only men, were drafted into the military to execute violence at the behest of our government. Sometimes this was a good thing, sometimes bad. It was always an honorable action for the individual to obey the laws of our country.</p>
<p>One objection to the Equal Rights Amendment was that it would have required equal treatment regarding the draft. </p>
<p>Every 18 year old male citizen is required to register for the draft. No woman is required to register. This is the "law of the land". There are severe penalities for failure to register (usually not enforced) that go way beyond not getting a loan. My son is registered for the draft.</p>
<p>While the draft is not currently in effect and the Pentagon prefers a volunteer military, the legistation is still "on the books" and the draft could be re-instituted at any time.</p>
<p>Is it just me or are parents and their children taking this extremely likely (not that it is a choice, but still).... basically a draft means they can send you wherever they want you to go, no questions asked, to be blown up in a hell hole or have your body ripped apart by shrapnel... something, as a 17 year old male, I would not wish to do......</p>
<p>And I agree.... if females are so encouraged to have "equal rights" then they must have equal rights in fighting.....</p>
<p>
[quote]
No one has ever been drafted into the Peace Corps.
[/quote]
LOL. I was not suggesting anyone was. My comment was in response to
[quote]
but simply having them register and if ever required, do some kind of service...why not?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I was reading it as being required to do some kind of service, not necessarily military service. Which I think would not necessarily be a bad thing. But I may have been misunderstanding what starbright was saying.</p>
<p>I don't think that concerns about the draft should be taken that seriously right now.</p>
<p>When I renewed my driver's license when I turned 18 it was nearly automatic that they signed me up for Selective Service at the DPS. Maybe that's only in Texas? It's really very simple...</p>
<p>All parents - remember that once your child turns 18 it is their responsibility, not yours, to be sure hoops are jumped through. Even if you help with paperwork be sure they are aware of it, taxes included. You also lose permission to view their medical and other records unless they give it to you in writing through the place with the information. Places are very happy to let you pay for things, but legally can't give out info- gov't rules.</p>
<p>We were in a different situation- son turned 17 in the fall of his college freshman year. He probably filled in boxes on SAT/ACTs that generated those numerous military mailings since he was a HS senior, or it may have just been being a senior. I am not pro military (all 3 of B's kids joined up, their decision, not his) so I would make my comments about such to recruiters (they bothered me, they get my opinion) who phoned home during the day (how on earth did they expect to get a HS kid at home during the school day?), both while son was in HS and away at college. I finally got one recruiter who said they were not supposed to call before age 17- oops, so much for any age filters on their lists. Since son was away at school I reminded him to sign up for selective service- this could affect his ability to get jobs/grants in grad school in the future. He did, no worries. It was scary to look at the website and realize anyone with his data could sign him up online- no signature needed.</p>
<p>Thanks for this link. I just looked and verified both my older boys are registered.</p>
<p>We don't do the Fafsa so that question wouldn't have come on our parental radar.</p>
<p>And in this era of equal rights why arent females required to register with SS? Just a question.</p>
<p>I can see required universal service...teaching, health aide, or the like, but I am against women in combat, in any case. So would not be happy for it to be a universal requirement. :(</p>
<p>I read articles about mothers going off to Iraq while the kids have to go to grandma's so Dad can go to work; or worse, both parents going off to Iraq. What have we come to???</p>
<p>/rant</p>
<p>We have come to a point where our available volunteer military troop strenght is inadequate to service the egos of our leaders.</p>
<p>Our bravest and most patrotic citizens are exploited through repeated deployments with inadequate time for R&R and training.</p>
<p>Parents are deployed away from their children because the services do not have the numbers to make better arrangements.</p>
<p>I say bring everyone home. Declare Fortress America. Put huge resources in border defense and missle shields. Dare anyone to attack us. If they do nuke their home village.
Quit trying to be the world's policeman on the cheap. Freedom requires a strong defense.
That defense should not be our young people scattered around the world in small groups, vulnurable to attack.</p>
<p>Let the oil companies and the Bush buddy Saudis secure their own D<em>&</em>^ oil.</p>
<br>
<p>We have come to a point where our available volunteer military troop strenght is inadequate to service the egos of our leaders.</p>
<br>
<p>I guess you didn't read the article that I linked to above:</p>
<p>The last fiscal year was a banner one for the military, with all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004, the year that violence in Iraq intensified drastically, Pentagon officials said.</p>
<p>And the trend seems to be accelerating. The Army exceeded its targets each month for October, November and December — the first quarter of the new fiscal year — bringing in 21,443 new soldiers on active duty and in the reserves. December figures were released last week.</p>
<p>Recruiters also report that more people are inquiring about joining the military, a trend that could further bolster the ranks. Of the four armed services, the Army has faced the toughest recruiting challenge in recent years because of high casualty rates in Iraq and long deployments overseas. Recruitment is also strong for the Army National Guard, according to Pentagon figures. The Guard tends to draw older people.</p>
<p>Well, there is proof that politicians are not stupid. </p>
<p>If they required selective service registration for girls, and then a draft, and expected girls to go off to get blown up in Iraq, then they are gonna get run out of Washington really really fast.</p>
<p>A lot of politicians would be back in boring hick towns working minimum wage jobs for Walmart, if they went that route. So they don't. </p>
<p>Boys have a lot of advantages all through life, so the possibility of mandatory war is one significant payback.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, there is proof that politicians are not stupid.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And what you just said was not that "proof".</p>
<p>
[quote]
Boys have a lot of advantages all through life, so the possibility of mandatory war is one significant payback.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Someone's bitter.</p>
<p>Mr. Gstein, you are the bitter one. "Proof" was tongue-in-cheek, maybe the politicians are often stupid anyway.</p>
<p>I am male and not so young, I was in the military. </p>
<p>I support a society where boys and girls have equal access to education and employment. Except, when it comes to war, the boys should do it, not the girls.</p>
<p>Mandatory combat service is sometimes necessary, do you really want young girls sent off against their will for that?</p>
<p>The women who are sent to Iraq et al voluntarily signed up. Women have been signing up long before Bush ever got into office. </p>
<p>I know of several girls who have and will be signing up on their 17th birthday. Yes, one can sign up that early.</p>
<p>If the armed services are meeting recruiting goals, why are soldiers being forced into repeated deployments?</p>
<p>Perhaps the goals are set too low to meet needs because the military realizes the stated goals are all they are likely to get.</p>
<p>Setting goals lower than needs but matching probable performance is a way to avoid reporting failure.</p>