I think I'm the only one with a service record from the sound of things.

There will never be another draft, barring the instance in which there is a mass invasion on U.S. soil. So you're looking at astronomical odds in favor of that happening; nothing anyone who isn't afraid of their own shadow should be worried or stressing about.

As for deliberately refusing to register with the selective service; life's full of choices. But good luck securing any type of federal loans, student loans, mortgages, federal aid, social security, federal employment, etc. You're literally making your life more difficult over nothing more than a precautionary system that was implemented when the "Red Scare" was in full effect generations ago.

Frankly, anyone who wants to make the selective service a symbolic "moral stand" by refusing to register is free to leave the country.

Right. I'm a puppet. God forbid that I analyze each situation on a case-by-case basis in favor of moaning about how this country should burn, how it's a joke, and how nothing it does benefits the world in any way (add wild gesticulation here).

You're just not very bright. And therefore, to escape the old "fool" adage, I shall find another thread in which to discuss something. Problem solved.

You're being pretty generous IMO.

The thing is, people like that have nothing to worry about because there will always be ordinary individuals willing to volunteer, whether it be out of need or desire so that others don't have to.

So, if you hate America, what country do you prefer to ours? How did they secure the freedoms they have today?

I am not a war hungry person, but if there is a need for war, I am not against it. Whether or not the Iraq war is needed is up for debate, but I would have no problem defending a country(even if it not my own) if another attacked it. I hope others would do the same for my country, but I have my doubts.

Seriously.  The people who claim one side is lying/decieving everyone and then proceed to blindly accept everything presented to them by the other side completely mystify me.  You've got reason enough to recognize that what others tell you isn't necessarily the truth, but then proceed to use that insight selectively.

For everyone who is a complete pacifist, I suggest you take it to a local level.

Ideally, I'm not a fan of war.  Ideally, the world's history wouldn't have any of it.  Ideally, I'm also not a fan of violence.  Ideally, there wouldn't be any needed in the world.  However, if some guy were to try to rape my wife/girlfriend/etc., I'd do whatever it took to protect them.  That'd probably involve some violence (and a lot of it).  But, as mrstickball (or maybe Rocketpig?) has pointed out, it's a situation where you're forced to choose the lesser of two evils.  The fact that violence and war are prevalent in our world and its history is a very sad thing.  However, we hold no power over others; we can only control the decisions we make in response to them.  If your two options are let everything you know and love be destroyed or fight, can you really honestly say the best option is the former?  No, every war does not have such high stakes.  No, every war should not be endorsed.  But sometimes, a war really is the lesser of two evils.

Oh be quiet.

Link me to one single piece of effective evidence that says Donald Rumsfeld ordered the raping of 13 year old girls or just get out of the thread.

You disagree with the man's politics, fine.  So do I.  But don't just make up heinous bull to try and discredit him.

As for the rest of your post, I agree, war is shit.  But if war occurs, as in the defensive wars I believe MrStickBall is talking about (not things like Iraq), EVERYONE has a responsibility to defend their country if they want to have any right to live in it afterwards.

What you're describing is how unethical armies and certain sadistic individuals (who exist EVERYWHERE including OUTSIDE of war) conduct warfare.  As someone else mentioned, when it comes to the US military, you're picking the isolated incidents and using them to indict the whole body.  The vast majority of the military strikes America has made SINCE THE COUNTRY'S INCEPTION have had risk/benefit analysis' made that incorporate civilian collatoral.

There is no instance of America EVER making it policy to attack civilians first.  EVER!

Honor in dying is a subjective thing I will grant you, but you're clearly the world's greatest pessimist if you genuinely believe it isn't possible in any scenario.

And now I feel like and idiot, because I just realized I spent time responding to someone who appears to have just claimed it wasn't worth fighting the Nazi's...

Hitler wouldn't have taken over had America never even bothered to step in. He was doomed the moment he betrayed the USSR. The Eastern Front was simply a battle he couldn't win. America going in was technically irrelevant on Hitler's end although, admittedly, it would have happened anyway since that idiot declared war on America only a few days after Pearl Harbor.

Imperial Japan would have been taken down by Russia, period. Japan was just a sad situation because their child of an emperor had no control over what his board did.

Pol Pot did what he did because he was convinced America was 'evil' and that all 'western influenced' Cambodians were evil. America's illegal bombing campaign by Nixon was one of the major factors in why Cambodians united under Pol Pot.  Not ONLY that, but you're ignoring the fact that America supported a Dictatorship of Lon Nol, who was a corrupt and vile tyrant himself, against Pol Pot's communism. Were you even aware of this? America was NOT supporting the establishment of a democracy in Cambodia.

America simply shouldn't be involved in these affairs. It's actions were a catalyst to the tragedies that occurred and usually cause more problems while wasting millions.

Just look at the American Civil war, it created the KKK, the black codes, and other Jim Crow laws that kept Blacks surpressed from having equal rights. What ended this terrible system? Non-violent civil disobediance.

People should learn: War is NEVER the answer.

I've been to Cambodia, relatively recently.  I've seen the mass graves, spoken to some Cambodians about the atrocities.  They do NOT believe that Pol Pot was what he was because of America.  Phoenix is either blissfully naive or willing to say anything to justify getting out of consideration for the draft too himself.