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Forced Military Testing in America's Schools
The invasion of student privacy associated with military testing in U.S. high schools has been well documented by mainstream media sources, like USA Today and NPR Radio. The practice of mandatory testing, however, continues largely unnoticed.
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB is the military's entrance exam that is given to fresh recruits to determine their aptitude for various military occupations. The test is also used as a recruiting tool in 12,000 high schools across the country. The 3 hour test is used by military recruiting services to gain sensitive, personal information on more than 660,000 high school students across the country every year, the vast majority of whom are under the age of 18. Students typically are given the test at school without parental knowledge or consent. The school-based ASVAB Career Exploration Program is among the military's most effective recruiting tools.
In roughly 11,000 high schools where the ASVAB is administered, students are strongly encouraged to take the test for its alleged value as a career exploration tool, but in more than 1,000 schools, according to information received from the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command through a Freedom of Information Act request, tens of thousands of students are required to take it. It is a particularly egregious violation of civil liberties that has been going on almost entirely unnoticed since the late 1960's.
Federal laws strictly monitor the release of student information, but the military manages to circumvent these laws with the administration of the ASVAB. In fact, ASVAB test results are the only student information that leaves U.S. schools without the opportunity provided for parental consent.
Aside from managing to evade the constraints of federal law, the military may also be violating many state laws on student privacy when it administers the ASVAB in public high schools. Students taking the ASVAB are required to furnish their social security numbers for the tests to be processed, even though many state laws specifically forbid such information being released without parental consent. In addition, the ASVAB requires under-aged students to sign a privacy release statement, a practice that may also be prohibited by many state laws.
A typical school announcement reads, "All Juniors will report to the cafeteria on Monday at 8:10 a.m. to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Whether you’re planning on college, a technical school, or you’re just not sure yet, the ASVAB Career Exploration Program can provide you with important information about your skills, abilities and interests – and help put you on the right course for a satisfying career!" This announcement or one very similar to it greets students in more than a thousand high schools across the country. There's no mention of the military or the primary purpose of the test, which is to find leads for recruiters.
Imagine you're Captain Eric W. Johnson, United States Navy, Commander, United States Military Entrance Processing Command and you had the complete cooperation of the Arkansas Department of Education to recruit high school students into the U.S. military. The first step you might take is to require juniors in public high schools to take the ASVAB. ASVAB results are good for enlistment purposes for up to two years. The ASVAB offers a treasure trove of information on students and allows the state's top recruiter to pre-screen the entire crop of incoming potential recruits. "Sit down, shut up, and take this test. That's an order!"
142 Arkansas high schools forced 10,000 children to take this military test without parental consent in Arkansas alone last year. "We've always done it that way and no one has ever complained," explained one school counselor.
The Army recruiter's handbook calls for military recruiters to take ownership of schools and this is one way they're doing it. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command ranks each high school based on how receptive it is to military recruiters. Schools are awarded extra points when they make the ASVAB mandatory. (See page 25 of: USAREC pub. 601-107)
Meanwhile, military recruiting regulations specifically prohibit that the test from being made mandatory.
"Voluntary aspect of the student ASVAB: School and student participation in the Student Testing Program is voluntary. DOD personnel are prohibited from suggesting to school officials or any other influential individual or group that the test be made mandatory. Schools will be encouraged to recommend most students participate in the ASVAB Career Exploration Program. If the school requires all students of a particular group or grade to test, the MEPS will support it." (See Page 3-1 of USMEPCOM Reg. 601-4)
Is it entirely coincidental that a thousand schools require students to take the test or does the Department of Defense have regulations in place solely for public consumption that it has no intention of following?
In addition, the Pentagon is grossly under reporting the number of schools with mandatory testing. There are hundreds of schools with required testing that are not reported by the DoD. For instance, the information released by the DoD for the ’09-’10 school year shows there is no mandatory testing in Ohio. However, it is possible, using a simple Google search tool, in this case ("k12.oh.us" asvab "all juniors") to uncover several dozen schools that require students to take the ASVAB that are not reported by the Pentagon.
Why can't we get traction on this issue?
There is great reluctance in American society to stand up to the U.S. military, particularly concerning the way it runs a dozen programs in the nation's schools. Calls for transparency are met with silence and indignation, a terrible lesson for American high school students.
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68 Comments so far
Show AllScary sort of democracy we live in today. I am thinking if I had school age kids today...I'd home school them.
The movie/book," All Quiet of the Western Front" about the German army during WW1 depicts/shows the German military recruiters recruiting in high schools. Written by Eric Remarque, a Frenchman. The book/movie starts with recruiters in high schools and speaking of the glories of war and the heroism, bravery that goes along being a soldier fighting for the homeland. In the middle of the movie the main character played by Lew Ayers in his Academy award role, goes to the high school and observes the same recruiting propaganda being used. He blows the whistle on the horror of war, the living and dying in the trenches, living in perpetual fear. The recruiters turn against Ayers character and the student have been brainwashed and shout Ayers down for being a traitor. Ayers cut his military leave short goes back to the horrors of the front and apparently dies on 11/11/1918 close to the 11th hour, while reaching for a butterfly.Another true experience of Michael Caine, the English Actor, was his experience in the Korean war. He said that he lived in fear and terror from the day he arrived to the day he left Korea.
Excellent comment, but of course Remarque was German.
If the US fights wars of aggression all around the world, do we want the slaughter done in our names to be performed by our children or by paid mercenaries?
I hope the reader will answer "Neither". My point is that USAns are way too blase about the wars and war crimes being perpetrated in our names. If our own children were on the line, we'd be a lot more likely to oppose our insane wars.
Protecting our own kids from fighting our wars while ignoring the wars being fought in our name doesn't do our kids any favors. The blowback from continual war has been the greater and greater loss of our most precious values of liberty and humanity. Each day brings us a step closer to turning the US into a militarized police state.
"If our own children were on the line we'd be a lot more likely to oppose our insane wars."
I'm sorry, I just simply do not understand your comment. What do you mean, "if?" Who is it you think the US military send off to war, but our children?
Passing the test means you have the ability to either launch a bullet or stop one. Can't get the brown shirt program started too early
while it is true that we should have transparency in the military programs how about a little transparency in the voting system where the votes are counted at a "secret location"
hope its not the same "secret location" that the lizard cheney was squirreled away in during the bush presidency...
The most brutally ideological and manipulative country in the world.
You really think so? Some notable exceptions come to mind- North Korea, Communist China, Iran, Syria & the Russian Federation. Just to name a few.
RomaBoy:
The exceptions you noted with North Korea, Communist China, Iran, Syria & the Russian Federation are NOT countries that purport to be democracies as does the
United States. The lack of integrity and the blatant disregard of our democracy, civil rights, etc., by the Military controlled US Government is THE critical issue described in this most important article, which you obviously missed.
President Eisenhower, a five star General, warned in 1961 of the impending control of the Military Industrial Complex overtaking our democracy. We are living under the Military Industrial Complex control, tragically it happened just as he warned! Hitler's tactics are closely followed by the US government, no doubt about it. America is full of the so-called "good Germans" who choose to remain brainwashed, gullible and ignorant which is why I chose to leave the US to become yet another ex-pat American.
Absolutely.
Your ethnocentrism may have you thinking otherwise. Visit any of these other places you mention and ask the people there how they feel about their country? Likely the same, or better, than you do about your own country. I know the personal happiness index in China is well beyond that in the USA.
Further, the issue was 'manipulated', and there is no country in recent history which has as effectively controlled the masses. Our culture has been presented to us as a sales ad. And we have bought it.
Read Professor Sheldon Wolin on Inverted Totalitarianism to understand how we have been passively controlled by these marketed forces. Here's a link:
http://www.thenation.com/article/inverted-totalitarianism
Cheers.
Need to give more cash to Public Education so they can inculcate the children with worship of the State.
Yes. Big problem in rural areas. It is after all the American Jobs Program-the American war machine, don’t forget. Those handsome young recruiters seduce our young students with money for education and a career path. No talk of destruction, loss of life or limb, morality.. just patriotism. Really sick. And they get these kids who see no alternative. No jobs. No future.
The so called "military recruiters" are the pushers of DEATH ! These pushers of death deserve life in prison along with war criminals bush/cheney, obomber, and all the military higher ups who carry out amerikan imperialism.
Most parents, as well as most school systems, do not know that they can say "No" to military recruiters. "No child left behind" gives parents the right to not give information to the recruiters. I doubt that it works too well in practice. Veterens for Peace and the War Resistors League would be able to give you more information about this.
As You've noted this is all in conjunction w NCLB / RTTT policies- but also includes the so-called 'Dream' Act & abolishing DADT. This all goes to show that the military industrial intel security complex [MIISC] is looking for bodies no matter if they're Black, Brown, white, man, woman, homo-sexual, bi-sexual, lesbian- all it cares about at this point is bodies to feed the US' War machine!
The blatant recruitment of kids in our society is pretty sickening. We don't trust them to drink, to vote, barely trust them to drive, look negatively on young marriage, etc., but somehow we are okay with our kids making battlefield, life and death decisions? It is appalling that the military spends billions to entice these kids with the promise of money and adventure in order to get them to make a decision that will affect at minimum, the next 8 years of their lives.
The military has no business recruiting kids, period.
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-military-recruitment-of-children
Mr. Elder, I appreciated your article on the ASVAB.
The mass use of ASVAB in public high schools truly is an insidious form of entrapment for young people at a very vulnerable point in their lives. When they feel overwhelmed by a sense of rejection from colleges and employers, the recruiter gives them a sense of being valuable and wanted. They can use ASVAB scores to convince a young person that he or she has undiscovered skills that can be developed only by the military – and too often they fall for the con.
This use of ASVAB goes back decades and has seldom encountered resistance except for a spontaneous student uprising I witnessed as a young teacher in the South Bronx in 1983, right after the Grenada invasion. The principal of James Monroe High School, a huge and failing public high school, mandated that all students should take the ASVAB. Regular classes were suspended and dozens of recruiters from all the services were brought in to help teachers administer the tests. But then without warning, some 2000 students walked out of the school!
In those days, media did not venture into the South Bronx, there was no internet, and the incident received zero publicity. The principal was later removed but the walk-out was probably not the reason – more likely it was the 10% graduation rate. In fact, the school was badly damaged by arson two months later but even that did not merit any media attention. Outsiders were often afraid to venture into the South Bronx in that era
Those were chaotic times and it is possible that a few motivated student leaders
provoked a large mass of their apolitical peers to ditch school for the day. But the students with whom I talked were definitely political in their motives.
Shortly after the walk-out, articles describing it were written by sympathetic teachers, and appeared in the tiny circulation publications of the War Resisters League and Advocates for Children.(I wrote the one for the Advocates for Children) Those articles attributed a conscious political motive to the walk-out, which was disputed by the principal who claimed it was simply a case of unruly students who took advantage of poor test administration by teachers.
The truth of the incident is probably somewhere in between. In less chaotic times, a few outspoken students would not have had the effect they did at Monroe nearly 30 years ago.
Valatius -
Great post and great example of how times have changed. Those high school aged students who walked out in 1983 would have been in early elementary school when the Vietnam War finally ended. Their parents transmitted some powerful, critical cultural values - values concerning the true face of militarism which were systematically demonized and marginalized nearly into extinction by the end of the 1990's.
Bill from Saginaw
"the spectre of Vietnam lies buried in the sands of Iraq"
then his idiot kid had to dig it up again.
I was going to mention how it would be hard to believe the author of this article had it correct in saying, "there's no mention of the military or the primary purpose of the test, which is to find leads for recruiters" when the test is called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Seriously, what does anyone think this test is about after reading that title?
And now your comment, Valatius, illustrating how 2000 students walked out of school in the Bronx in 1983 to avoid being mandated to take the ASVAB, makes my original point abundantly clear.
Regardless, it is the type of state abuse I abhor.
"The 3 hour test is used by military recruiting services to gain sensitive, personal information on more than 660,000 high school students across the country every year....... The ASVAB offers a treasure trove of information on students and allows the state's top recruiter to prescreen the entire crop of incoming potential recruits."
It is unclear as mud to me how a three-hour aptitude test designed to objectively measure and assess an individual test taker's "aptitudes for various military occupations" releases personal information of any nature. Pat Elder's article mentions that ASVAB requires divulging one's Social Security number (presumably, in addition to name and date of birth) and signing some sort of privacy release form, but that's about it.
Beyond that, it is difficult to envision how testing spacial recognition skills, verbal reasoning, basic IQ, language fluency, proficiency in mathematics, a preference for raw carrots over boiled carrots, or whatever somehow unleashes a treasure trove of sensitive, personal data about the student who is taking the ASVAB test.
Maybe it is misuse of the privacy release authorization which is the real issue. I can't tell. Some specifics would be helpful.
Regardless, the ongoing incessant, blatant militarization of American culture in the public sphere and in the omnipresent entertainment/infotainment mainstream media has become as dangerous as it is depressing. Glad to see NNOMY is doing its homework, manning the barricades while the warrior mentality kultureklash grinds on.
Peace, too, is patriotic. We'll know we're making progress when public schools start offering an alternative Peace, Justice and Nonviolence Aptitude Vocational Battery test alongside ASVAB - or (better yet) restore the traditional model of high schools as a forum for basic education, teaching civics, and individual character development, rather than for career channeling or crude political indoctrination.
Bill from Saginaw
Member, Veterans for Peace
This may not be the case here and I may sound paranoid but having grow up in a Communist regime, I can equate this to what I lived. We were often "tested" for all kinds of things. The results were then analyzed and interpreted according to a certain criteria and a determination was made on whether or not he person was ideologically ready (i.e. brainwashed) to undertake whatever task the state had in mind for them. Sometimes, the tests were as stupid as asking you to draw something which was then twisted and interpreted as all kinds of bizarre things to arrive at whatever conclusion it was that the ones testing wanted. Those who were determined to be ideologically unfit would eventually ended up in the gulags. For example, I graduated college with a mark on my records which said that I could not work with children because I was not "ideologically defined" (i.e. I wasn't a slogan-spewing, snitching Communist).
The more I see how the government of the US is operating, the more apparent the similarities become with the Communists (I'm also willing to bet that someone who lived in Nazi Germany would have similar experiences to share). So, the short of this is that they may find something that may go unnoticed to others who are not trained in that area. And it won't be long before the results of those tests are used against the kids.
"It is unclear as mud to me how a three-hour aptitude test designed to objectively measure and assess an individual test taker's "aptitudes for various military occupations" releases personal information of any nature. "
The question is not whether it discloses anything about you, the question is what right does it have to take said information from you in the first place?
Please do not forget SAT as that "test" was derived from military testing. Like ASVAB, the SAT until the recent years does not test people's ability to think critically. Even when that "exam" might have been changed to do so, your grading is at the whim of mood swingers. Then again, the same can be said of IQ "tests" as well.
I have no recollection of such a test when I was in high school. However, when I graduated college with a bachelor of engineering degree, I got letters from all service branches inviting me to enlist and be an officer. At the time I thought it was a violation of privacy for the school to send my name to them, but was too busy interviewing with private sector companies to investigate. I wish I had saved those letters now.
Not only is the activity that Pat mentions going on across the U.S. in high schools, but he has also pointed out the dog and pony shows the armed forces carry out in the schools. This is in the form of displaying equipment that kills people to students on campuses and inviting them to play simulation warfare games as well as recruiters being allowed unfettered access to students, with the recruiters acting in the capacity of guidance counselors. Also important is the fact that the armed forces are allowed to place "teachers" for ROTC courses without having their academic credentials vetted, which is required of all others who teach in the classroom.
I worked as a Bilingual Substitute Teacher (English/Spanish) for several years. In 2003 I had an assignment at Clear Creek High School in the Clear Creek School District in Colorado. During the gifted and talented calculus class I was told by several of the students that the principal had forced them to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. I told them that he couldn't force them to take the test and that it was up to them and their parents to decide if they would take the test or not. THE KIDS SAID THAT IF THEY REFUSED TO TAKE THE TEST, THE PRINCIPAL YELLED AT THEM!
That was before the No Child Left Behind Act with all of the provisions for military recruitment and other totalitarian style legislation that has nothing to do with improving the children's education.
We were in a duplex portable and I found out later that the principal was in the other room and might have heard the conversation. I never got an assignment in that district again!
That was not such a loss, it was a tiny little district and I just wanted to work there occaisionally because of the opportunity to go up to the mountains and see the scenery occaisionally.
It is a real shame that the people in power wish to force the kids into military adventures that could get them killed for no good cause and possibly cause them physical or psychological injury. It is very hard to believe that that prinicipal had the best interests of the kids at heart.
We don't live in a democracy at all. We're simply slaves to the corporations and their political lackeys. We're only modern nation to remove the writ of habeas corpus from our laws. We're clearly worse than the Hitler dictatorship. Even Hitler didn't have the legal rights of Obama to incarcerate and execute citizens by fiat. Even Hitler had to follow some procedures as to cause!
Lincoln legally suspended habeus corpus, and the constitution specifically allows for it under certain circumstances. Also, Hitler did use fiat--it's not like they used warrants when rounding Jews up, they just did it, and wrote it down afterwards.
The Constitution is still a flawed document, written by people of power and with safeguards built in to protect their rights. It's done a fine job so far. So, yes, Lincoln may have used the Constitution to legally suspend habeas corpus, but the issue remains, was it lawful?
That said, the rule of law applied equally to all is paramount in a civilized community. I do support the Constitution, warts and beauty marks. If it needs amendment, so be it.
Hey Teens, do you like being told what to do?
Do you like being told what to wear?
Do you like being kicked out of bed before dawn?
Do you like people yelling at you and calling you names?
Do you like being forced to exercise, sing and march all day?
Do you like being punished until your will is broken and you'll do whatever you're told, even if it goes against everything you believe in?
If you answered 'YES SIR' to any of these questions there's a job for you in today's military.
Join us. The Many, the Broken, the Military.
Bravo! to ctrl-z
ctrl-z,
Do you like not having a clue about what military life and training is really like?
dimmwitt: Really? What isn't accurate?
Take the oath, wear the boots, stand your post, then we'll talk.
The many. The broken. The military.
I can't believe how many people are against the military these days. First of all, does everyone know that this horrible military includes the Coast Guard, the branch which is dedicated to saving lives instead of taking them. Secondly, everyone here acts as though juniors in high school are morons who don't understand that the military wants to recruit them. Of course the military wants to recruit people out of high school. I can tell you from experience that when you get an E-3 in the military who's 25 years old with a bachelor's degree, they're more often than not too proud to take out the trash and clean the toilet. The military is based on the chain of command, it's essential for its operation. There's no reason to be ashamed of being the person taking orders instead of giving them.
I've never heard of administering the ASVAB in high schools before this, but it would have been great for my life. When I was a confused high schooler I went to college because that's what everyone else did and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I did great the first year but I got bored and dropped out the second year. The reason I dropped out is because I found the Coast Guard. I got a perfect score on the ASVAB and enlisted. Now I do a job that I love, I'm an electrician and I repair and maintain lighthouses. Anybody want to guess my salary? I'll give you a hint, it's enough to live very comfortably in New Haven, CT, one of the most expensive areas in the country. By the way, anybody wondering about my hours? I work Monday thru Friday from 7AM to 1PM. All this with no more than a high school education and a good work ethic.
For those of you who say the military is broken, I'm here to say that from my point of view, it's the best career move I could have made. While most of the country is wondering if they'll have a job next month with this bad economy, I know I've got a steady pay check. And in the Coast Guard I don't have to worry about deploying to a war-zone if I don't want to. (I did want to and it was the best tour I ever had, but that's not the point). Everybody focuses so much on the things going on in DC with our government, but nobody realizes how many pieces there are to our government. I can say that I'm proud to do my part, and what's wrong with at least giving our nation's students the opportunity to share in that. These kids are old enough to decide for themselves whether or not the military is right for them. I don't see a problem with our military trying to at least ask who's willing to serve.
USCG_EM sez: "These kids are old enough to decide for themselves whether or not the military is right for them."
They're not old enough to vote, not old enough to drink, not old enough to sign a legally binding contract, but they're old enough to make an objective decision about enlisting - a decision that might get them killed?
I don't think so.
Why don't you go discuss the economic benefits of your Coast Guard service with the homeless vets, the vets disabled physically and/or mentally, their families and the families of those who were killed? Tell them how well you're doing.
These are decisions they aren't legally allowed to make. I'd be willing to bet there are plenty of 17 year olds who could cast a smart vote just the same as there are plenty of 30 year olds who don't have a clue what's going on. I've heard this argument a thousand times, but really it comes down to a decision about a person's future. Who's to say that a kid can't decide to enlist but can decide to go to college or not do anything at all? My point is that a kid can't vote, drink or sign contracts simply because it's not legally allowed. None of those things reflect on the maturity level which some young adults have and some don't. And that decision only yields a higher chance of injury if they decide to take a combat job. There are plenty of jobs that are required in the military where there would be no more chance of injury than any other office job.
There are veterans who are homeless and there are people who've never served who are homeless. There are veterans who are disabled and there are people who've never served who are disabled. Would you guilt a successful civilian into feeling bad for making more money than some homeless and disabled people? This article isn't about those who have honorably served in the past. It's about the lack of willingness to allow this generation the privilege of serving and protecting their country.
Stutter post.
USCG_EM sez: " Would you guilt a successful civilian into feeling bad for making more money than some homeless and disabled people?"
You bragged about your economic success and attributed it to military service. Your outcome isn't the result for the vast majority of vets. Most returning vets, injured or not, have difficulty finding work due to the state of the economy. Some can't find work because of injuries or PTSD. Some can't find it simply because of the lack of jobs.
Your Horatio Alger story isn't the experience of the vast majority of vets - and you should know that.
USCG_EM sez: "My point is that a kid can't vote, drink or sign contracts simply because it's not legally allowed. None of those things reflect on the maturity level which some young adults have and some don't."
Gosh, why isn't it legally allowed? Are you saying the laws are wrong, that teens should be able to drink, vote and sign binding contracts?
USCG_EM the lying recruiter sez: " And that decision only yields a higher chance of injury if they decide to take a combat job. There are plenty of jobs that are required in the military where there would be no more chance of injury than any other office job."
You lying X!@#@$%! You know damn well the military slots people wherever they please. Recruits don't get a choice about combat or non-combat positions. Recruiters might promise naive, gullible students the jobs of their dreams, but you know very well that isn't the reality.
Info on recruitment/enlistment:
http://www.citizen-soldier.org/cs12-enlistment.html
I am thinking most enlistees in the other arms of military don't make enough to live comfortably in Ct..
http://www.military.com/news/article/more-troops-are-relying-on-food-stamps.html
USCG_EM sounds like a recruiter or a "sockpuppet". He also doesn't point out is that the Coast Guard is the smallest branch of the military and is very selective in who they enlist.
You got it!
My son was one of the kids promised all sorts of nonsense and it was quite before 18 and he is now dead due to the promises of recruiters. Sorry but kids are kids and they start well before high school and 18. My understanding is that middle schoolers have been visited as well. Let them be kids for a little while.
I'm sorry for your loss. It would be best if recruiters were kept totally away from underage kids/teens.
To Iken14:
I am sorry your son was killed and a victim of the manipulations and lies perpetuated by the US government and Pentagon, and their Military Recruiters.
I've heard these horror stories far too many times in my life, beginning with Viet Nam!
" The military is based on the chain of command, it's essential for its operation. There's no reason to be ashamed of being the person taking orders instead of giving them."
What a sad and brutal way to see the world. Slaves and Servants, following orders and fulfilling duties.
"Salvation is saving yourself from the decisions of others by making your own."
Considering that males reaching their 18th birthday still have to register for the draft, it doesn't really seem to be a huge violation of privacy. It is a gross attack on parental rights until that child reaches eighteen.
" Under the law, virtually all male U.S. citizens, and male aliens living in the U.S., who are ages 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service.
Since there is no draft currently in effect, and men are not being classified for service, disabled men, clergymen, and men who believe themselves to be conscientiously opposed to war must also register.
Penalties for Failure to Register for the Draft
Men who do not register could be prosecuted and, if convicted, fined up to $250,000 and/or serve up to five years in prison. In addition, men who fail to register with Selective Service before turning age 26, even if not prosecuted, will become ineligible for:
•Student Financial Aid - including Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans.
•U.S. Citizenship - if the man first arrived in the U.S. before his 26th birthday.
•Federal Job Training - The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) offers programs that can train young men for jobs in auto mechanics and other skills. This program is only open to those men who register with Selective Service.
•Federal Jobs - men born after December 31, 1959 must be registered to be eligible for jobs in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal Service."
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/defenseandsecurity/a/draftreg.htm
If the government of, by, and for, the people don't regulate the military, the military will regulate the government.