National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service

According to Quaker House of Fayetteville, North Carolina, one of the few listening sessions of the new congressional National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service will be held:

Vinton, Iowa at
Wesley Methodist Church
516 2nd Avenue
June 26, 2018,
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

The Mandate: This commission is tasked with gathering information in order to make proposals for updating the regulations and laws in the following areas:

Selective Service—Is it still needed or should it be discontinued, does anything need to be changed?
Draft—The Selective Service is the draft. Currently, all 18-year-old men (and the Commission is considering women) are required to register with the Selective Service, and your local draft board is currently staffed. If, at any point, Congress and the President authorize a draft, everything is already in place for it to be implemented instantaneously.
Military, National, Public Service—Should a service requirement be mandatory for young adults in the United States? If not mandatory, how can public service be encouraged?

From Quaker House:

Advocating Peace: The initial listening session of this Commission was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on February 23, 2018, and Quaker House was there to comment. Only Quaker House (Kindra Bradley), the Center on Conscience & War (Bill Galvin and Maria Santelli), and a Mennonite long-time peace advocate and counselor for the GI Rights Network (Titus Peachey) spoke on behalf of conscientious objectors. Our collective comments covered eliminating the Selective Service System, restoring the full rights of people who have not registered with the Selective Service, officially allowing registrants to self-designate as conscientious objectors during Selective Service registration if it is maintained, and ensuring that any alternative service program is run by a civil agency and with the same benefits as military service. I was somewhat encouraged that two veterans who commented after we made our statements publicly agreed that the US should allow people to be conscientious objectors without punishment or other negative characterization.

You can submit comments before September 30, 2018 either online at http://www.inspire2serve.gov/content/share-your-thoughts

Or by mail at:

National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service
Attn: RFI COMMENT—Docket 05-2018-01
2530 Crystal Drive, Suite 1000, Box No. 63
Arlington, VA 22202

Some of my blog posts about the Selective Service System and the draft can be found here: https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=selective+service+draft