<P> Chief Warrant Officer 5 Ralph E. Rigby, the last Vietnam War - era drafted soldier of Warrant Officer rank, retired from the army on November 10, 2014 after a 42 - year career . </P> <P> On July 2, 1980, President Carter issued Presidential Proclamation 4771 and re-instated the requirement that young men register with the Selective Service System . At that time it was required that all males, born on or after January 1, 1960, register with the Selective Service System . Those now in this category are male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25, who are required to register within 30 days of their 18th birthday even if they are not eligible to join the military . </P> <P> The Selective Service System describes its mission as "to serve the emergency manpower needs of the Military by conscripting untrained manpower, or personnel with professional health care skills, if directed by Congress and the President in a national crisis". Registration forms are available either online or at any U.S. Post Office . </P> <P> The Selective Service registration form states that failure to register is a felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment or a $250,000 fine . In practice, no one has been prosecuted for failure to comply with draft registration since 1986, in part because prosecutions of draft resisters proved counter-productive for the government, and in part because of the difficulty of proving that noncompliance with the law was "knowing and wilful". In interviews published in U.S. News & World Report in May 2016, current and former Selective Service System officials said that in 1988, the Department of Justice and Selective Service agreed to suspend any further prosecutions of nonregistrants . Many men do not register at all, register late, or change addresses without notifying the Selective Service System . Registration is a requirement for employment by the federal government and some states, as well as for receiving some state benefits such as driver's licenses . Refusing to register can also cause a loss of eligibility for federal financial aid for college . </P>

Credit cards have been used in the united states since the colonial era