Dead Drafting

From the Stars and Stripes:

"14,000 draft notices sent to men born in 1800s"

No, the United States isn’t trying to build a military force of centenarians. It just seems that way after the Selective Service System mistakenly sent notices to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897, ordering them to register for the nation’s military draft and warning that failure to do so is “punishable by a fine and imprisonment.” The agency realized the error when it began receiving calls from bewildered relatives last week. Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, said he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a World War I veteran who was born in 1894 and died in 1995 at age 100. “I said, ‘Geez, what the hell is this about?’ It said he was subject to heavy fines and imprisonment if he didn’t sign up for the draft board,” he said. “We were just totally dumbfounded.” Huey said he tried calling the Selective Service but couldn’t get a live person on the line. That frustrated him even more because he wanted to make sure the agency knew there had been a mistake. “You just never know. You don’t want to mess around with the federal government,” he said. The glitch, it turns out, originated with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the Selective Service. A clerk working with the state’s database failed to select the century, producing records for males born between 1993 and 1997 — and for those born a century earlier, PennDOT spokeswoman Jan McKnight said Thursday. “We made a mistake, a quite serious selection error,” McNight said. The Selective Service didn’t initially catch it because the state used a two-digit code to indicate year of birth, spokesman Pat Schuback said. The federal agency identified 27,218 records of men born in the 1800s, began mailing notices to them on June 30, and began receiving calls from family members on July 3. By that time, it had sent 14,250 notices in error. “It’s never happened before,” Schuback said. The men are almost certainly all dead, given that the youngest would be turning 117 this year. Families of those men who received the notices can simply ignore them, he said. Their files will be deactivated and they shouldn’t receive additional communications from the Selective Service. The agency also posted a notice and an apology on its website Thursday. The state Transportation Department, meanwhile, said it had taken steps to ensure its mistake won’t be repeated. “We’re really sorry,” McNight said. “We apologize.”

^ This just shows how stupid people can be. I understand mistakes can happen and yet no one from the PA DMV or the Selective Service caught it. Also, since when has the Selective Service sent out Draft notices? I never received one when I turned 18 and had to know to sign-up (and change my address when I moved) al by myself - and this was before you could do it on the Internet. We haven't drafted anyone since we went to an all-volunteer military in 1973 and it seems the Selective Service is a waste of time and money - clearly they can't do their job. The only way we will draft people (only men are drafted even though women want full equality in the military they don't have to register) is if a major event happens (not just a regular war since we have had many of those since 1973) and then I think everyone 18-25 and maybe even older would be drafted and so the Selective Service would be useless. People supported the Draft in World War 1, World War 2 and Korea and it wasn't until Vietnam when people (mostly those of Draft-age) started protesting. Vietnam changed the US to such an extent that any politician (and there have been a few) that propose returning the Draft aren't taken seriously. It has become a joke to have Draft reintroduction bills. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/14-000-draft-notices-sent-to-men-born-in-1800s-1.292591