The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

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December 8, 2025 / Rebecca Kheel / Roll Call - Young men are set to be automatically registered for the draft under the compromise version of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act unveiled Sunday night.

The automatic draft registration provision was one of several measures included in the bill that broadly aim to make it easier for the military to find young people at a time when the propensity to serve remains low.

The U.S. has not drafted anyone into compulsory military service since 1973, but young men still have to register with the Selective Service System in case there is a draft again in the future. Failing to register is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and five years imprisonment, as well as a loss of eligibility for federal jobs and, in most states, state student aid and state jobs.

Under the NDAA provision, the Selective Service System would be able to tap into existing government data, such as Social Security Administration information, to automatically register all 18- to 26-year-old men.

The Selective Service System would also be tasked with notifying men they have been registered, as well as asking them for any missing contact or biographical information and informing them of the process to unregister if they’re not actually required to register.

Some men are exempt from registering if, for example, they have a medical condition that confines them to home or are in the country on a nonimmigrant visa.

The provision would take effect one year after the bill’s passage, which is expected by the end of the month.

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NOTE: As a corrupt landlord repurposed as a president prepares to abolish a government that dared to use its resources to alleviate its poverty, it is a good moment to look back at a story from 2017 at the system of militarism that so dominates U.S. America's culture and how it indoctrinates youth to the cause of liberal hegemony.

December 1, 2017 / Alexa Keefe / Photographs: Sarah Blesener / National Geographic - Over the past year, photographer Sarah Blesener has been visiting patriotic youth groups around the country, from teens being trained as border guards in Texas, ROTC chapters in New York, a patriotic church camp in Utah, and a young woman in Nebraska preparing to head to the military once she graduates from high school. Her aim has been to explore how different combinations of religion, love of country, and military-style training come together in the teaching of “new Americanism,” which Blesener defines as a renewed embrace of the centuries-old theme of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny.

One group that Blesener followed was the Hanover, Pennsylvania chapter of the Young Marines, a nonprofit group which has 300 clubs around the country. Participation is open to boys and girls ages 8 and up as an after school program. The recruits take part in a military-style boot camp, fitness drills, and weekend encampments, as well as engaging in recreational activities like dances and visiting theme parks and historic sites.