Nation: Draft Sign-Up

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Most men answer the call

Ever since Jimmy Carter ordered all 19-and 20-year-old men in the U.S. to sign up in July for the draft, in case it is resumed, the question has been: How willing would young men be to answer the President's call? After a preliminary count, the Selective Service System last week gave a tentative answer: 93% of those eligible—3,593,187 out of 3,880,000 —had registered at post offices by late last month. Selective Service Director Bernard Rostker stopped short of calling the sign-up a complete success but said: "I am not unhappy."

Indeed, he should not be. In 1973, when the draft had just ended but antiwar feeling still ran high, only 83% of those eligible registered within a month of when they were supposed to (five days after they turned 18). Morever, Rostker expects the eventual number of registrants this year to come close to the agency's goal of 98%. Later this month, the Selective Service System will begin to mail out letters of confirmation—no draft cards will be issued—to those who have signed up. The agency will then start trying to track down the men who failed to register, using leads such as drivers' licenses and high school graduation lists. Rostker sidestepped the question of whether dodgers would be prosecuted, insisting that this is to be determined by the Justice Department. The maximum penalty: five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

Just how many young men would respond to an actual draft, of course, remains uncertain. But Selective Service officials take heart from the fact that a sampling of those who registered indicated that only 1.8% noted on the forms that they were registering under protest. Officials estimate that even fewer falsified their birth dates or used obviously fictitious names like Michael Mouse. On the other hand, 14.8% of the registrants asked for more information about enlisting in the military.

Antidraft groups, which had been predicting widespread noncompliance, were unconvinced by the Selective Service's figures. Said Barry Lynn, head of CARD (Committee Against Registration and the Draft): "I'm not going to call Rostker a liar. I am going to say I'm very, very skeptical." Lynn called for an independent audit of the count, perhaps by Congress's General Accounting Office. It was a challenge that Rostker gladly picked up.