Uneasiness over the
possibility of a return
to a full-fledged draft
means that
Registration draws heavy fire
By Katherine Merrill
Of the Emvrmtd
The war over a future draft has escalated since
Pres Ronald Reagan extended draft registration in
January.
Of those required to register 90 percent did so in
the first round, but Social Security officials said only 75
percent of those supposed to register last fall did
Christina Cowger, of the Coalition Opposed to
Registration and the Draft, says officials blamed the
drop on a lack of publicity, but CORD believes the
reason is 'a bigger part are opposed
Reagan gave the unregistered men a grace period
until Febuary 28 Cowger says the president took a pool
of 300 of those most publicly against registration and
gave them 15 days to register Of the near 100 who still
refused to register. 4 or 5 are being indicted probably
shortly after Febuary 28th
(CORD is planning a demonstration at the Federal
Building against the indictments First Step, an anti-nu
clear group, plans to hold a vigil and a fast at the time of
the first arrest.)
Sen. Mark Hatfield. R-Ore . sees Reagan's exten
sion of registration as an "open invitation’ to those in
Congress who want a draft either this year or next, says
Jack Robertson. Hatfield’s press secretary
Hatfield says the president was ill-advised on
registration extension — calling it an attempt to
coerce" — says Rick Rolf, an aide to Hatfield Hatfield
also thinks the country's image at the time played a
major part in Reagan s decision. Rolf says Poland
didn't help in terms of looking tough ."
Hatfield confronted the forces in favor of draft
registration last September over the Military Pay Bill,
which provides pay increases for Army personnel
He fought for an amendment because he thought
the bill provided too great a pay increase to high
ranking officers and too little for the lowest enlisted
soldiers Hatfield's successful amendment takes some
of the pay increase for senior-level career officers and
directs it towards first term enlistees and corporals
Rolf says they are satisfied" with getting the
essence" of what they wanted "We got what we
wanted and more,” he said Strong public sentiment
was the only reason Congress accepted Hatfield s
amendment, he adds
Lt. Col Steve Wolfgram. director of the University’s
ROTC office, says the current pay rate for the lowest
entry private is $551 a month, plus room and board and
other allowances
The Army’s position is to support registration but
not an actual draft, he says "The current philosophy in
the Army is that we have a volunteer Army " The
volunteer army does work, but it takes time to get it
established - they've only had it for about 10 years —
he says
Wolfgram says the ROTC office has a tough time
recruiting specialists They are especially interested in
"students who have a science inclination”, but the
“bulk of them are liberal arts" students He attributes
this in part to the liberal arts emphasis at the University,
and part to the pay scale And with specialists such as
engineers, it’s "very tough to compete" with civilian pay
scales
The Army has trouble recruiting medical personnel
also. A June, 1981 General Accounting Office report
shows that the number and types of medical personnel
in the military are far below the total projected requir
ements for an upcoming conflict. Sophisticated wea
ponry would make for a short, intense conflict, says
Dave Isenberg, director of University Veterans This
kind of conflict would "overload'' military and V A
hospitals that served sufficiently in past wars, he says
The Pentagon dealt with the problem by establish
ing the Civilian Military Contingency Hospital System
CMCHS arranged with civilian hospitals tor the use of
thousands of hospital beds to treat injured soldiers from
overseas conflicts Isenberg says the Pentagon is
however, still seeking voluntary agreements with
civilian medical workers
Lt Gen Charles Pixley, Surgeon General of the
Army, advocates a return to drafting medical profes
sionals in the fashion of the Berry Plan, the law that
allowed the draft of medical people during the Vietnam
war, adds Isenberg
Legislation continues this month regarding the
shortage of medically trained Army personnel and the
impact of the CMCHS
Agencies providing draft counseling say those
interested in filing for conscientious objector status
cannot officially apply until there is a draft But they say
it's a good idea to have a card on file with an agency
Cards can be obtained through CORD or the Central
Committee tor Conscientious Objectors
Joel Pomerantz, with the CCCO in San Fransisco.
says that since registration was reinstated in 1979
30.000 people have contacted them and put cards on
file Pomerantz says this number does include a large
number of women and people younger than draft age.
but reflects the interest in a potential draft
Congress turned down a proposal to drafl women
and there's a "very, very low possibility" they will
reverse that decision, Pomerantz adds A student
deferrment does not exist, he says, but in the case of a
draft students would have a temporary stay until the end
of the semester.
It’s “hard to tell” how difficult it will be to get C O
status in the event of a draft. Pomerantz says The
Selective Service is rewriting all forms to get rid of the
•’Blatant unfairness” in forms previously used,
he says
On past forms, the poor and less articulate received
worse treatment than better educated applicants
Pomerantz says the rewriting is nothing more than a
'token' attempt to deal with predjudicial problems in
the draft system because minorities are still under
represented on the draft boards
Registration and rewriting forms are unusual
actions Pomerantz says, ' unless they're willing to use
draft as a tool ” CCCO is expecting a return to the draft,
although they don't know when there have been
estimates as short as two months and as long as 10
years, but CCCO doesn't expect a draft to be reinstated
within a year, he says
Should there be a draft, those called would have 10
days from the mailing of their induction notices to file for
C O status with their claims boards, Pomerantz says
adding that they must prove sincere, deeply held
beliefs' against the war Pomerantz says these beliefs
can be moral as well as religious The boards will try to
find out when applicants first became CO.’s, how it
affects their everyday lives, and to what extent they are
opposed, he adds
There are two types of status A "1-0 status
means the person is totally opposed to war and cannot
serve under any circumstances, and an "A-0 status
means the person can serve but will not carry weapons
or receive weaponry training
Selective service plans taKe aran
DENVER (AP) — The Selective Service System is
planning a simulated draft during March in which 1.000
Army reservists across the country will play the part of
military inductees, a newspaper reports
The mock draft, dubbed "Grand Payload." is
scheduled tor March 20 as a tuneup to an even larger
exercise later this year, the Rocky Mountain Business
Journal reported in this week's edition, dated Tuesday
The draft will begin with a simulated lottery of men,
who will be subject to mock examinations and then
inductions into the armed forces, the newspaper
reported
Thomas K Turnage, director of the Selective
Service System, outlined plans for the mock draft in a
Jan 4 letter to local draft board members
In that letter, the newspaper reported that Turnage
said, “This will be the first time that the Military
Manpower Accession System, of which the Selective
Service is a vital part, will actually take prospective
inductees from their homes to various reception
stations ”
Mock induction orders will be mailed to Army
reservists in early March The 1.000 men selected will
be transported to one of six armed forces entrance and
examination stations for simulated induction The
location of the six sites was not reported
Selective Service officials were not available
Monday, a federal holiday, for comment on the report
In his letter to local draft boards, Turnage said the
simulated draft in March would be part of preparations
for a large-scale exercise expected in late 1982 “
Californians lead non-registration
SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) - California has the
worst record in the nation for draft registration, with
barely half the state's draft-age young men signing up,
according to the state’s Selective Service director
Forty-nine percent of those subject to the draft
failed to register last year, Keith Lamb said Wednesday
The second-worst record in the country was recorded
in the District of Columbia, where 46 percent haven't
signed up
The West and East coasts were low,” said Lamb
"South Dakota registered 100 percent. The midwest did
very well, as did the South.