Eligible young men wonder if they will be called to war

The day of the terror attacks, draft registration soared. While the government says no military call-up is planned, eligible young men are suddenly contemplating a potential call to arms.

"I never thought in my lifetime that I would ever have to think about a draft. It's kind of beyond me," said Larry Johnson, 19 and a junior at Howard University. "If I had to go, I would be honored."

No military draft is anticipated, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday. But the system is in place if that changes, with 14 million men ages 18 to 25, including immigrants, registered for military service as federal law requires.

As military personnel prepared for action this week and some college students rallied for peace, many men of draft age were weighing the question "What if?"

At 25, Drew Akin is close to aging out of the current draft registry. The guitarist and waiter in Birmingham, Ala., doubts his degree in English would make him great military material.

But having cried himself to sleep over the attacks, and so angry that he considered enlisting, Akin said he's ready to pitch in. "If they called me and said 'America needs you to go,' I would leave right now."

Indiana University senior Ian Yost recalls mailing the card that filed his name, address, birthdate and Social Security number with the Selective Service System.

"Being it was 1998, there was nothing going on that made me think we were going to war anytime soon," said Yost, now 21 and a business major. With two semesters left, he hopes he can at least finish school.

But he wouldn't balk if a draft got in the way. "It's part of being an American," he said.

Alvaro Arce isn't so sure. The 21-year-old senior at Stanford University feels ambivalent. "What happens if I am called? I don't know, to be honest," he said.

A public policy major, Arce lamented the sudden, terrible questions no one prepared him for.

"We've had all kinds of education, sex education and alcohol programs," Arce said. "But no one talked about 'What about the draft?"'

Federal law requires men to register with the Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18, though later registrations are not punished. They can be done by mail, or online.

Sept. 11, the day of the terror attacks, online registrations topped 6,000 -- triple the year's daily average, said Lew Brodsky, a senior agency official. It subsided after that.

Under current procedure, a call-up would start with men who turn 20 within the calendar year the draft is activated. Next would be 21-year-olds, and on up the age groups. The Selective Service says 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds would probably not be drafted.

The student deferment of the Vietnam era is gone, although college students could get postponements. High school students younger than 20 would be allowed to graduate first.

But all is subject to change.

"If Congress passes a law to reinstate the draft, they could pass all kinds of conditions as to how they want that draft reinstated," Brodsky said.