US Women May Be Drafted

[Capstan]

Yesterday (April 27,) the US House Armed Services Committee voted to include in the 2017 Defense Bill a provision requiring women, aged 18 to 26, to register for the draft, starting next year. The legislation could be enacted by Congress this fall. I'm wondering what the ladies (and others) of VeggieViews think about this?

 

[beancounter]

It's about time that women had an equal opportunity to be drafted!

 

[KLS52]

Hell no, I won't go?


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[Mischief]

I've always thought that the obligation should be the same, just as the rights should be the same.

 

[Naturebound1]

I wonder if drafted women will get equal compensation and recognition though. There is still after all a wage gap between men and women on average.

 

[ledboots]

 

[Amy SF]

I don't like the idea of a military draft for men, let alone women. The reason it was ended in the first place was because it was declared unconstitutional. I don't like the idea of forcing people to fight, and making it hard for anyone who doesn't want to fight to get out of it.

Why doesn't the government make signing up for a Civilian Corps mandatory? Fixing bridges and clearing away brush from burn areas does more of a service to one's country than going overseas to kill people you've never met, and encourages participants to think in constructive, positive terms rather than thinking about death and destruction.

Anyone who genuinely wants to be part of the military will sign up voluntarily. I don't see the need to make it mandatory.

 

[Capstan]

I don't like the idea of a military draft for men, let alone women. The reason it was ended in the first place was because it was declared unconstitutional. I don't like the idea of forcing people to fight, and making it hard for anyone who doesn't want to fight to get out of it.

Why doesn't the government make signing up for a Civilian Corps mandatory? Fixing bridges and clearing away brush from burn areas does more of a service to one's country than going overseas to kill people you've never met, and encourages participants to think in constructive, positive terms rather than thinking about death and destruction.

Anyone who genuinely wants to be part of the military will sign up voluntarily. I don't see the need to make it mandatory.

That's pretty much how I feel about it. Involuntary conscription for military service should be illegal. If a nation can't conduct its military matters on a voluntary basis, maybe it should reconsider its ambitions. I sweated out a year, in 1969, of the draft "lottery." According to the numbers- my birthday having been selected- I was supposed to have been drafted, and likely sent off to Vietnam to kill "commies," or be killed. For whatever reason, they never sent me the notification, so I was lucky. If it had happened, I expect I would have gone to Canada. I can't imagine submitting to that sort of insanity.

If the government ran a Civilian Corps to maintain the infrastructure and provide other services, I doubt a draft would be needed. I think people would flock to it, to have a decent paying job.

 

[Amy SF]

My brother was born in 1952 and turned 18 in 1970. My mother once told me, in all seriousness, that had he been drafted, the whole family would have packed up and moved to Canada, but his number never came up. Almost a shame, really. I think I'd like being Canadian.

 

[ledboots]

I agree, the draft is horrible for everyone.

That civilian corps is a great and very much needed idea. There are far too many young, disenfranchised men (and women) in the US that need a chance.