It’s an appropriate change. The draft brings individuals into military service, but not everyone is needed for (or cut out for) front line combat service. There is tremendous need for supportive roles - and the option of a draft ensures all roles (combat and supportive) are filled, no questions asked. In the 21st century, nobody wants a man in a combat role he is not cut out for, especially when there is a capable and willing woman who can fill the role.
It’s not as though this is the first time in US history that women would support large scale military efforts. They have always served in supportive roles, from being front line nurses to building tanks in factories at home. And with women currently serving in combat roles from infantry to fighter pilots, why should the be exempt from a draft? Better to fill the demand of a war with capable people, not capable men.
@ucbalumnus - You make some good points. I think the draft will go away because warfare has changed so much. I really hope they just get rid of it.
I haven’t looked recently, but I believe very few women were able to pass the physical requirements to be in elite combat units and now they have considered making the requirements easier; essentially weakening the fighting force. I can’t imagine the drafted women would do better than the female volunteers trying to qualify for combat either. Soldiering is a very specialized skill. It’s the entire point of the movie “300”.
Plus, I guess I’m a dinosaur that believes unit cohesion is crucial at the front lines and adding in romance, passion and jealousy is a recipe for disaster. Then there is this:
Overall, women unexpectedly leave their stations on Navy ships as much as 50% more frequently to return to land duty, according to documents obtained from the Navy. The statistics were compiled by the Navy Personnel Command at the request of TheDCNF, covering the period from January 2015 to September 2016.
The evacuation of pregnant women is costly for the Navy. Jude Eden, a nationally known author about women in the military who served in 2004 as a Marine deployed to Iraq said a single transfer can cost the Navy up to $30,000 for each woman trained for a specific task, then evacuated from an active duty ship and sent to land. That figure translates into $115 million in expenses for 2016 alone.
I agree that if we continue to have selective service, all young persons (with some exceptions for mental illness, etc) should have to register. I can though see how some women (maybe many?) would purposely become pregnant to throw a wrench in the plan so to speak.
My kids are 5% for height and weight with chronic health issues which makes field work for them ill-advised. They could provide support from a climate-controlled desk job. At this point, both are older than the average service person.
I’m not worried at all about a draft, but am seriously concerned that the nation’s youth are so fat, unhealthy and poorly educated that the army wouldn’t even accept them. That doesn’t bode well for the future, for the country or for the youth themselves.
I agree that if we continue to have selective service, all young persons (with some exceptions for mental illness, etc) should have to register. I can though see how some women (maybe many?) would purposely become pregnant to throw a wrench in the plan so to speak.
Thinking positively, early family formation and an increased birth rate would be good things for the nation!
I thought there was going to be registration for women. About 2-3 years ago, this was talked about for qualifying for FAFSA.
Anyway, registering for the draft is not the same as qualifying for service. Everyone could register and then only those qualified would be required to enter the service. Not everyone drafted in the '40s and '50s was sent to combat. There were office workers and mechanics and drivers. I had a secretary in the 1990’s who had been in the marines and volunteered for duty in Desert Storm. She drove supply trucks. She was about 5’2" and weighed about 120.
My relative drove as a messenger in WW2 in HI for several months after being drafted. He was then discharged and used the gi bill to get law degree and MBA.
"Overall, women unexpectedly leave their stations on Navy ships as much as 50% more frequently to return to land duty, according to documents obtained from the Navy. "
Gee, I can’t imagine why women wouldn’t be successful serving in various military posts. Could it be something like this?
Existing military doesn't want women to serve. Thinks women are weak, distracting, cause morale problems, don't belong.
Women are forced into positions where the exiting men serving don't want them there or view them as meat.
Women are harassed, not valued, realize they have no chance for promotion.
Women decide to stop banging their head against the brick wall and transfer out.
Men conclude - see, those women just don't have what it takes!
Because that’s pretty much how it’s gone for women in many areas of business and traditionally male dominated professions. And it’s bad enough when your boss in corporate America harasses you, treats you like an idiot or steals your ideas, but at least in theory you aren’t living at your job and you can quit. The women in the military are generally stuck there with the only option a transfer in the future.
I’ll repeat what @sushiritto stated - the Israeli army has been drafting both men and women since 1948, and women have been entering front line units for the past decade or more. I was 5’6" and weighed maybe 145 lb when I was drafted, and have always been nearsighted, and I was assigned to combat duty in the armor corp. I served as a medic (instead of in a tank), and when I finished my regular service and transferred to reserves I was assigned to a mechanized anti-tank unit. I served active front-line duty both in regular army and reserves. I was far from the smallest man in any of my units. I’ve known a good number of guys who served in paratroopers and top military units who were smaller than I was, though I wouldn’t mess with any of them.
It may be difficult for smaller people in infantry of some countries, because they carry oversize loads, but that is not true of every infantry, and many militaries, like Israel’s, the largest number of combat soldiers actually serve in armored units, and all Israeli infantry is mechanized. This means that most of the combat soldiers are not required to carry huge loads, and size is not an advantage. Power is also not an advantage in a military that uses weapons that do not require power. So a good number of women are physically capable of being modern combat fighters.
Besides, in a modern military, maybe 20% of the soldiers are actually front line combat soldiers. The rest serve in supply, administration, and various other support positions.
I still think that the administration is screwed on this topic, if the courts decide that the present situation is unconstitutional, since expanding the registration to include women will anger a large group of people while canceling registration will anger another large set of people.
Some countries offer civilian service as an alternative to conscription. Imagine if almost all high school graduates worked for one or two years in service to the country before heading off to college or jobs.
There are some misinformed people who clearly have little or no knowledge about the military commenting on this thread!
I don’t even know where to start, and frankly don’t have the time to address everything.
(Husband is a board certified physician, a very high ranking Colonel, with 28 years of active duty experience in two branches of the US military. He has served a tour in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He is hoping to make it to 30 years, at which point he will retire. I have intimate knowledge of the subject at hand.)
It is only fair for everyone to register for the draft at age 18, although there isn’t a soul in any leadership position who wants anything but an all volunteer military.
As has been mentioned above, a large number of our young people already don’t qualify to serve. Registering for the draft doesn’t change that.
It bothers me that the military is so far removed from civilian life, because so many people have complety incorrect perceptions about physical fitness standards, pregnancy, and people of different sexes and sexual orientations being able to serve and work together in professional ways. My husband is an OB/Gyn, and works with and in the interests of active duty women. He also was part of the team that wrote the guidance rules in support of transgender personnel being fit to serve and to remain on active duty a few years ago, prior to changes that were recently made. (just to mention a few of the incorrect ideas and statements made on this thread.)
The usual social contract is that men can be called up to spend time in the military, and women set aside time for pregnancy and childbirth.
In conscription you don’t get to choose what level of danger or how frontline you want to be. I don’t think men and women are anything close to equal in psychological suitability for combat or other extremely dangerous positions.