Letters of Support

Registering with Selective Service

What Do I Believe About War?

How the Draft Will Work

CCW's Comprehensive Guide on Registration and the Draft

• There is no way to register with Selective Service as a Conscientious Objector.
  
• Only a Draft Board can deem you a legally recognized conscientious objector. A Draft Board is assembled only in the event of a draft.
  
• The best thing you can do for your claim is to document many aspects of your beliefs about war and violence. Draft Boards can ask tricky and challenging questions in trying to determine your beliefs.

   CCW has a quick and simple method to either begin or assist in the process of documenting one's beliefs on war and violence. This one is documenting a very clear and simple statement, "I am conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form," on a Selective Service registration card. It should look something like this:

You can then photocopy this, fold the copy into thirds, and then stamp and mail it yourself. Why mail it to yourself? Because the US Postal Service will stamp it, leaving an official account of the date on it, so you can say to a draft board, in the event of a draft, that you tried to register with Selective Service as a CO, despite the fact that they do not recognize such a status. In other words, you made an effort to be recognized as having the beliefs that do.