Back in early 2004, I was quietly told about Pentagon secret talks regarding making women sign up for the Selective Service in order to be drafted. I’m surprised that it’s taken this long to surface publicly, but it has. Recent conversations at top government levels are pushing just that. The gender differences and working lines have shifted over the years, but that doesn’t mean I agree with them.
Do I think women should be in combat? No. Call it my protective instincts or my experience, but I don’t want the United States military to make even greater moves towards women in the service or in combat roles, especially a mandated draft as top military leaders have recently suggested—making women sign up for the Selective Service just like young men do now.
I’ve written about this all before. On the whole, I tend to agree more with those in the USMC who don’t want to see women in combat roles at all. I’ve also voiced my opinion on the two women who recently graduated from Ranger school—specifically that they will never be like men. Frankly, I think all the attention these Ranger grads got was damaging to women because, like the Army captain who finished a ruck march, the media puffed their achievements.
Should troops really be praised for barely making it, just because they’re women?
Do I think women should be in the Armed Services? Absolutely. Women are capable, able and strong. Women served openly from WWII through today. Women are needed. Volunteers are needed—volunteers!
Do I think having women in war is a moral question? Not per se. I think it’s a cultural question. Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale and noncommissioned and commissioned US military women today serve a great role. Do I think some women will be able to serve in combat units just fine? Yeah. Some will. Do I think that’s okay? No.
Call it my protective instincts. Call it my fatherly love, but I don’t want my little girls ever having to be called up in a draft. Sure, they might not serve in combat roles, but I don’t want them serving at all. I don’t want them exposed to things I was exposed to. If women want to be in the military, let them volunteer. (Some may respond that countries like Israel have female conscripted soldiers. Yes, it works, but the United States isn’t Israel. I know because I have lived in both.)
Women in the military have been sexually assaulted at an all time high. They’re exposed to living and working with men in terrible conditions. These are not the things we should be proud of as a society. Men ought to be better. Chivalry shouldn’t be dead. And if this decision to draft women is at all because we need our recruiting levels to rise (which can’t be the case currently with the tremendous downsizing of the US Armed Forces) then we need to have more men man up!
We don’t need women that are macho or tough or plagued with the bane of war’s experience. I believe it’s the duty of all men everywhere to protect the most incredible gift ever given to us: women.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of Guns.com.
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