SmashMouth

No, the United States isn't trying to build a military force of centenarians.

It just seems that way after the Selective Service System mistakenly sent notices to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897, ordering them to register for the nation's military draft and warning that failure to do so is "punishable by a fine and imprisonment."

The agency realized the error when it began receiving calls from bewildered relatives last week.

Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, said he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a World War I veteran who was born in 1894 and died in 1995 at age 100.

"I said, `Geez, what the hell is this about?' It said he was subject to heavy fines and imprisonment if he didn't sign up for the draft board," he said. "We were just totally dumbfounded."

Huey said he tried calling the Selective Service but couldn't get a live person on the line. That frustrated him even more because he wanted to make sure the agency knew there had been a mistake.

"You just never know. You don't want to mess around with the federal government," he said.

The glitch, it turns out, originated with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the Selective Service. A clerk working with the state's database failed to select the century, producing records for males born between 1993 and 1997 - and for those born a century earlier, PennDOT spokeswoman Jan McKnight said Thursday.

"We made a mistake, a quite serious selection error," McNight said.

The Selective Service didn't initially catch it because the state used a two-digit code to indicate year of birth, spokesman Pat Schuback said. The federal agency identified 27,218 records of men born in the 1800s, began mailing notices to them on June 30, and began receiving calls from family members on July 3. By that time, it had sent 14,250 notices in error.

"It's never happened before," Schuback said.

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dam1953

Some reports indicate that this was due to a Y2K glitch. Only, our Federal Gvmt can have a Y2K problem......14 years late. Or maybe the notices were sent out mistakenly on Jan 1, 2000 and the Postal Service is just now delivering them?

OldMaid

Speechless. Just speechless. YOU HAVE GOT TO ME KIDDING ME!!!
This is sort of like one our fellow dear posters here who had some business with selling his home or rebuilding it after the hurricane. Something like that. The insurance company or something had wanted him to proove something about the land.
We all thought , before the person posted, Ok, he just has to go to France and speak to the King Louie and he perhaps will then email Pres. Thomas Jefferson .... LOL!!!!!
Does anyone remember that post?
Does anyone remember the person who posted it?

I will try to find it when I have time .

Too funny.

Danno

I'm thinking they're probably too old now.

QBREES9

I didn't get one.