Selective Service Act of 1917: Classifications of Draft Registrants

Below are the five classifications of draft registrants from World War I (1917-18)¹

CLASS I

Eligible and liable for military service. Most unmarried men (21 through 30) or those who have a wife with an independent means of support or one or more dependents over the age of 16 with sufficient family income.

CLASS II

Men who are temporarily deferred but are available for military service. Mainly men (21 through 30) who are married and have dependent children under the age of 16 and the family has a sufficient income if the adult man is drafted.

CLASS III

Men who are temporarily exempted but are available for military service. Local officials, men who are sole providers for dependent parents and dependents under 16 (which include the registrant's siblings). 

Men who are employed in agricultural labor or industrial work that is essential for the war effort.

CLASS IV

Men who are exempted due to extreme hardship. Married men who are the sole income for a dependent spouse and young child or has a deceased spouse and child under 16. Also, men who are the sole support for dependent parents and/or sibling under 16.

CLASS V

Men who are exempted: state or federal officials, any current member of the army or navy, licensed pilots employed in the pursuit of their career, clergymen and students in training to be clergymen. Also men who are diasabled and/or declared "morally unfit" for military service.

Men who are ineligible for the draft included: Men convicted of an "infamous crime" or treason or any felony. Also, enemy aliens and resident aliens (men from the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, or Bulgaria).