Selective Service and the VA

[ShuperNewbie]

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Hey guys, bit of an interesting problem here. I'm starting residency in a couple months at an institution with a VA, and I just realized that I never signed up for selective service (really dumb I know but just hear me out on this one). There's really no good excuse but I never required any loans or applied to any government jobs, and all of the SS letters went to my primary address where I no longer resided permanently (just came home on the weekends). Take that coupled with the fact that my dad, an immigrant, didn't know about the requirement and thought all the SS letters were junk and threw them away. Flash forward to residency. I fill out my VA application and it gets denied because I didn't register for selective service. The VA requires an explanation and right now, all I can hope for is my excuse of "well I forgot" constitutes ""a preponderance of evidence" that his [my] failure to register was not knowing and willful." Does anyone know of any situations like this? Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

[SmurfMD]

FEDERAL JOB TRAINING

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) offers programs that can train young men seeking vocational employment or enhancing their career. This program is only open to those men who register with Selective Service. Only men born after December 31, 1959, are required to show proof of registration.

Penalties for Failing to Register

The more immediate penalty is if a man fails to register before turning 26 years old, even if he is not tried or prosecuted, he may find that some doors are permanently closed.

https://www.sss.gov/Registration/Why-Register/Benefits-and-Penalties

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[SmurfMD]

You are in a difficult bind. I will also be starting residency as a VA civilian in July and all these extra requirements have thrown me off guard. Luckily none of them have derailed my application, but I do feel they should disclose their importance at the time of your ERAS application and/or residency interview.

My recommendation would be to talk to HR and your PC about the situation ASAP.

 

[UofM527]

Damn I wish you the best of luck! This is unfortunately quite a bit more than an interesting problem🙁 never like to judge others on here but this is a pretty inexcusable mistake (and you are admitting as much) - I hope they are able to accept your explanation or you may have issues with ever being allowed to train/work in a government facility and could probably face some sort of fine too

 

[jdh71]

Hey guys, bit of an interesting problem here. I'm starting residency in a couple months at an institution with a VA, and I just realized that I never signed up for selective service (really dumb I know but just hear me out on this one). There's really no good excuse but I never required any loans or applied to any government jobs, and all of the SS letters went to my primary address where I no longer resided permanently (just came home on the weekends). Take that coupled with the fact that my dad, an immigrant, didn't know about the requirement and thought all the SS letters were junk and threw them away. Flash forward to residency. I fill out my VA application and it gets denied because I didn't register for selective service. The VA requires an explanation and right now, all I can hope for is my excuse of "well I forgot" constitutes ""a preponderance of evidence" that his [my] failure to register was not knowing and willful." Does anyone know of any situations like this? Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks.

I still say your best explanation is the truthful one. You didn't mean "not to" you just didn't and that might make you stupid or ignorant or whatever, but it's the truth. You don't have a time machine and cannot go back and sign up. You'll happily sign up today as you have no reason not to. You know it's a very embarrassing reason but there is nothing you can do about it now.

 

[Raryn]

Unless the OP is still under 26, the only thing that he can do is submit a full explanation of what happened. He may also need to get a "Status Information Letter" from the SSS (see https://www.sss.gov/Home/Men-26-and-OLDER ) to submit to their VA. Presumably for residency, they may just give you the benefit of the doubt and let you work there. It's a time limited thing and they have a relationship with your program.

That said, it's also entirely possible that the OP is barred from ever working at the VA after residency. Not that huge of a loss, but still crappy.

 

[Crayola227]

Just claim tons of ignorance and get consider getting a statement from you dad that he tossed the notices without opening them (cuz that's bad too) thinking it was junk mail and he had your permission to toss junk mail.

They likely won't want to be short a resident over this so they'll find a way to smooth this out so you can still start.

I don't know what further repercussions will be.

I'm a chick so understandably, the first time I even realized this was a thing for dudes was the one time I actually went to the post office in med school and was standing around reading the random notices posted. I wondered at the time how they got the message out to dudes because it seemed like something that could fly under the radar so easily otherwise.

Sorry bro, I can see how this happened. Let us know how it goes.

 

[ShuperNewbie]

Hello there friends! Thank you all so much for your responses and your support!

So I just got this sorted out today 🙂. Apparently what happened was this: I DID IN FACT REGISTER FOR SELECTIVE SERVICE!

I thought as much! In my state we're required to do so in high school and I thought I remembered doing that to graduate. The thing was though: I mailed in the application and somewhere along the line they lost my social security number so I didn't show up in the registry, but all I needed to do was update that and I was good to go!

I did however, get to see what would happen if you didn't register and one leg of your training is in the VA. I think I'm incredibly lucky to have a very supportive PD and aPDs. They were very willing to sit down, discuss my case, and do everything in their power to help. The chief of staff of the VA in NYC was even about to write to the central office in Washington DC to try and help out my case. I was actually a little overwhelmed and moved by how supportive the program leadership was to my problem. In the end, what would have happened, had I not resolved the issue, was that they would simply make a special schedule for me that didn't require any rotations at the VA. This, however, was only possible because the VA was a only one hospital out of three hospitals that we rotate through. If the VA were, say, one of the primary teaching sites however, I imagine this would have been much more of a problem. Regardless though, I don't think anyone will be "kicked out" of their program for not being able to rotate through the VA. This was made very clear to me throughout the whole process.

Still though, the long short of it is this: IF YOU'RE READING THIS AND YOU'RE IN MED SCHOOL, REGISTER FOR SELECTIVE SERVICE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY! DO IT NOW!

 

[Crayola227]

Hello there friends! Thank you all so much for your responses and your support!

So I just got this sorted out today 🙂. Apparently what happened was this: I DID IN FACT REGISTER FOR SELECTIVE SERVICE!

I thought as much! In my state we're required to do so in high school and I thought I remembered doing that to graduate. The thing was though: I mailed in the application and somewhere along the line they lost my social security number so I didn't show up in the registry, but all I needed to do was update that and I was good to go!

I did however, get to see what would happen if you didn't register and one leg of your training is in the VA. I think I'm incredibly lucky to have a very supportive PD and aPDs. They were very willing to sit down, discuss my case, and do everything in their power to help. The chief of staff of the VA in NYC was even about to write to the central office in Washington DC to try and help out my case. I was actually a little overwhelmed and moved by how supportive the program leadership was to my problem. In the end, what would have happened, had I not resolved the issue, was that they would simply make a special schedule for me that didn't require any rotations at the VA. This, however, was only possible because the VA was a only one hospital out of three hospitals that we rotate through. If the VA were, say, one of the primary teaching sites however, I imagine this would have been much more of a problem. Regardless though, I don't think anyone will be "kicked out" of their program for not being able to rotate through the VA. This was made very clear to me throughout the whole process.

Still though, the long short of it is this: IF YOU'RE READING THIS AND YOU'RE IN MED SCHOOL, REGISTER FOR SELECTIVE SERVICE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY! DO IT NOW!

Lol another example of how the gov't bureaucracy makes things uber complicated, they drop the ball, and then they blame you. I'm glad in this case it wasn't your fault and it got smoothed out.

 

[Siggy]

It's important to note that every time you fill out FAFSA, one of the components is a "Did you register for the draft?" and "Would you like us to register you for the draft?" I know the OP said he didn't need any loans, but for the vast majority of male residents, they would have registered in undergrad.