-Kean Men Must Choose

By: Jose Martinez

My names is Jose Martinez, and I’m making 18 on August 14. Why does this matter? Well all males ages 18 to 25 who live in America must register for the Selective Service. What is the Selective Service? The Selective Service is a system used for calling up men for U.S. military service. It’s a hard thing to know that your name has to be submitted to the military in order to be drafted in case of an emergency.

If you don’t register, there are severe consequences. (With these kinds of consequences, almost anybody would rather go to war). Here are some of them:

# CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT REGISTERING

The maximum penalty for failing to register with Selective Service is a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Failure to register will cause ineligibility for a number of federal and state benefits including:

# FEDERAL JOBS

A man must be registered to be eligible for jobs in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal Service. This applies only to men born after December 31, 1959.

# STUDENT FINANCIAL AID

Men who are not registered with Selective Service cannot obtain Federal student loans or grants. This includes Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans.

# CITIZENSHIP

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) makes registration with Selective Service a condition for U.S. citizenship, if the man first arrived in the U.S. before his 26th birthday and was required to register.

# FEDERAL JOB TRAINING

The Workforce Investment Act (formerly JTPA) offers important job-training opportunities. This program is only open to those men who register with Selective Service.

# STATE JOBS, LOANS, AND TRAINING

Most states have added additional penalties for those who fail to register with Selective Service. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/555721-penalties-not-signing-up-selective-service-age-18-strict.html

Would you be willing to face these consequences? What if a national threat arises? Would you go to war and risk your life? Or would you rather go to jail and then live with restrictions in your life?

There are some things in life that demand sacrifice, and war is one of them. Could you imagine being away from your family, not knowing if you will ever see them again? " My family was always on my mind day and night," said Julius Combrano, a U.S soldier that served in the Iraq War.”

The last U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq during the final week of 2011. As of December 18, 2011, 4,484 American military personnel lost their lives, and 33,186 others were wounded. http://antiwar.com/casualties/

After the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, many people felt waging War in Afghanistan was justified. “I supported the war in Afghanistan because 3000 of our people were murdered and I thought we had a right to defend the people of the United States,” said Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont. http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/afghanistan/

Many people feel an obligation to their country. Why is that? I've always said that human life is more important than winning a war. Think of all the wars that the United States has been involved in recently: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Were these wars necessary?

This is a very complex topic, and there are many different views on it. Your views depend on if you or your family were affected by it. As I'm writing this editorial, somewhere on this earth innocent people are losing their lives in the cause of their country. Lives are lost every day, and I say that this kind of sacrifice should be for a good cause, one that is necessary and that can help us in the future.

Wars are started by politicians, but soldiers are the people who go out there and fight them. Who feels the pain? Not the politicians but the soldiers’ family members who are back home awaiting their return.

Engaging in a long war is reckless to me. The War in Afghanistan started in October 2001 and is still going on. So many lives that are in the government's hands could still be lost because of the politicians. Politicians don't care about the soldiers’ families, nor do they care about their feelings. That’s how I feel about this.