Is Your Son 18? What Parents Should Know About New Automatic Military Draft Registration
Parents of 18-year-old boys got a jolt this week — about a month after the U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran — with news of proposed changes to this country’s system for military draft, or mandatory conscription.
As of December, eligible men will automatically be registered into the military draft pool within 30 days of turning 18 — part of an effort to streamline the previous process of mandatory self-registration with the Selective Service System, the government agency that maintains a database of draft-eligible men in case of a national emergency.
The proposed rule, fast-tracked on March 30 and initially approved by Congress in 2025 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, is awaiting finalization by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
So why is this happening? And is it reason to start worrying? Below, all you need to know about the draft system changes.
What’s Changing and Why?
At the moment, young men must self-register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of turning 18. Doing so adds them to the database of draft-eligible men, where they remain until turning 26.
Who Is Exempt From Registering?
To be fully exempt, according to the SSS, you must have been on active duty or confined — meaning incarcerated, hospitalized, or institutionalized — continuously between the ages of18 to 26. However, just because a young man is eligible to be registered does not mean he will automatically be inducted into the military, according to SSS. “In a crisis requiring a draft, men would be called in a sequence determined by random lottery number and year of birth,” the agency explains on its website. “Then, they would be examined for mental, physical, and moral fitness by the military before being deferred or exempted from military service or inducted into the Armed Forces.”
Women are also exempt, as are transgender men.
But “U.S. born and naturalized citizens, parolees, undocumented immigrants, legal permanent residents, asylum seekers, refugees, and all males with visas of any kind which expired more than 30 days ago” need to register.
How Many Men Register on Their Own — and What Happens If You Don’t?
The SSS reported that, in 2024, 81% of all eligible men registered, which was a three-percentage point drop from the previous year.
That might be because failure to register is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or five years in prison. It can also prevent people from receiving state-funded financial aid or employment in some states, or even many federal employment opportunities under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
Immigrants who fail to register risk losing their U.S. citizenship.
Is There Going to Be a Draft?
There is not currently a military draft — and there has not been one since 1973, near the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The draft became extremely unpopular after that conflict, when 58,000 Americans died. But in 1980, President Jimmy Carter reinstated the Selective Service in case of a “national emergency,” creating a registry to “provide personnel to the Department of War and alternative service for conscientious objectors, if authorized by the President and Congress.”
For Trump to institute a draft, Congress would first need to pass legislation amending the Military Selective Service Act.
Last month, when asked if President Trump will be bringing back the draft, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while it is “not part of the current plan right now,” he “wisely keeps his options on the table.”
Mark F. Cancian, a senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security-focused think tank, told PolitiFact last month that the likelihood of a draft was very low. “There is no way that there will be a draft in this war,” he said, explaining that a draft “is opposed by the military, which wants volunteers; by the people, because it disrupts their lives; and by Congress, because it angers voters.”