§ 3814 — Definitions

When used in this chapter— (a) The term “between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six” shall refer to men who have attained the eighteenth anniversary of the day of their birth and who have not attained the twenty-sixth anniversary of the day of their birth; and other terms designating different age groups shall be construed in a similar manner. (b) The term “United States”, when used in a geographical sense, shall be deemed to mean the several States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. (c) The term “armed forces” shall be deemed to include the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard. (d) The term “district court of the United States” shall be deemed to include the courts of the United States for the Territories and possessions of the United States. (e) The term “local board” shall be deemed to include an intercounty local board in the case of any registrant who is subject to the jurisdiction of an intercounty local board. (f) The term “Director” shall be deemed to mean the Director of the Selective Service System. (1) The term “duly ordained minister of religion” means a person who has been ordained, in accordance with the ceremonial, ritual, or discipline of a church, religious sect, or organization established on the basis of a community of faith and belief, doctrines and practices of a religious character, to preach and to teach the doctrines of such church, sect, or organization and to administer the rites and ceremonies thereof in public worship, and who as his regular and customary vocation preaches and teaches the principles of religion and administers the ordinances of public worship as embodied in the creed or principles of such church, sect, or organization. (2) The term “regular minister of religion” means one who as his customary vocation preaches and teaches the principles of religion of a church, a religious sect, or organization of which he is a member, without having been formally ordained as a minister of religion, and who is recognized by such church, sect, or organization as a regular minister. (3) The term “regular or duly ordained minister of religion” does not include a person who irregularly or incidentally preaches and teaches the principles of religion of a church, religious sect, or organization and does not include any person who may have been duly ordained a minister in accordance with the ceremonial, rite, or discipline of a church, religious sect or organization, but who does not regularly, as a bona fide vocation, teach and preach the principles of religion and administer the ordinances of public worship as embodied in the creed or principles of his church, sect, or organization. (h) The term “organized unit”, when used with respect to a reserve component, shall be deemed to mean a unit in which the members thereof are required satisfactorily to participate in scheduled drills and training periods as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. (i) The term “reserve components of the armed forces” shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be deemed to include the federally recognized National Guard of the United States, the federally recognized Air National Guard of the United States, the Officers’ Reserve Corps, the Regular Army Reserve, the Air Force Reserve, the Enlisted Reserve Corps, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve, and shall include, in addition to the foregoing, the Public Health Service Reserve when serving with the armed forces.