VA Technician in Draft Dodger Snafu

Chris Freking, 39, is a GS-12 technician at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center who in his 16-year federal career has risen to a position overseeing a system that coordinates veterans' electronic medical records. But in the eyes of the government, the San Francisco Chronicle reports today, Freking also is a draft dodger, and that means his federal employment must come to an end.

Freking was born and raised in the Phillippines. But his father was an American citizen. That meant that after Freking came to the United States in 1990, he was supposed to register for the draft, like all American males between 18 and 26. Failure to do so means you can't get education assistance or training from Uncle Sam -- or a federal job.

Freking says he didn't know he was supposed to register, and his human resources office didn't tell him he had to either -- an oversight for which the agency accepts some measure of responsibility. But that doesn't matter, says the Office of Personnel Management. A rule's a rule, and Freking must go. In February, the agency rejected his appeal of an earlier decision that he must be dismissed.