EFFORT UNDER WAY TO DO AWAY WITH SELECTIVE SERVICE

The Cape Girardeau Selective Service office closed in 1974, moving to Sikeston in a consolidation that occurred when President Richard M. Nixon ended the military draft.

Now, legislation is afoot in Congress that would abolish the Selective Service System President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law nearly 60 years ago.

An appropriations bill the House of Representatives will consider upon returning to work after Labor Day includes a provision for ending the agency and its current $24.4 million annual budget. The bill provides only $7 million for "termination costs."

The legislation sponsored by Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., is an attempt to save money without making cuts in other areas, according to Walsh's chief of staff. The bill was approved by the House Appropriations Committee before the August recess.

Previous attempts to abolish the system in 1993 and 1995 failed. Ironically, the legislation appears as some in Congress are talking about the need to reinstitute the draft. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., has said peacekeeping deployments in Bosnia and Kosovo may require Congress to reconsider conscription.

The Air Force is expected to fall 2,500 recruits short of its annual goal this year, and the Army could end up 10,000 recruits shy of its full authorization. The Navy projects a shortage of 22,000 recruits, while Marine Corps recruitment is doing fine.

The Pentagon has blamed recruiting shortages on the strong economy. Congress, meanwhile, is preparing to pass the largest military pay and benefits package since 1981, including 4.8 percent salary increases.

U.S. Army recruiter 1st Sgt. Harlan Dobbs said recruitment numbers are affected by the higher standards now required of enlistees. "People used to think of soldiers as dummies. But the technology is so great now you have to pass a rigorous test to get in," he said.

"A high school student who has never taken algebra will not pass the entrance test."

Physical standards also have greatly increased.

He said the Army has a lot to offer people even after they have graduated from college. The Army will pay up to $65,000 toward student loans for a four-year enlistment.

Dobbs, who served in combat in El Salvador, Panama, Desert Storm and Desert Shield, didn't offer an opinion about abolishing the selective service system or reinstituting the draft.

"My job is to recruit," he said. "The Selective Service System has been in place years and years and years. In case of a national emergency, I don't know."

Registration for the Selective Service System was suspended in 1975 and restored in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Most young men register at the Post Office, though a growing number are registering on the Internet.

The system currently has the names and addresses of 13.5 million men between the ages of 18 and 25, which amounts to 89 percent of the total number in the country.

Kris Kruger, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, said she understands an amendment will be added to the bill providing full funding for the Selective Service System once Congress reconvenes.

"The issue probably will come up again," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.