What are your thoughts on conscription, male and female?

I am 100% Anti-Conscription.

It violates a specific line of the Oath of Office (though not Enlisted) "that I take this obligation freely." The entire concept is anti Freedom.

Furthermore,

1) You are not going to get the best service out of a Conscript
2) It is unnecessary in modern warfare (of a population our size, and diversity)
3) We're an all-volunteer force since the 70s
4) It's designed for Low-Trained Ground Warfare
5) We supply benefits to those who serve, which in turn will great a burden on the back-end. We cannot currently support those who serve. We WON'T be able to support expanded conscription

This is not to say it is not a viable model in SOME Nations. But we must remember that the US is the 4th Largest Nation in the world, both Population wise, and Geographically. We are the MOST diverse Geographically, and Demographically. When you have a much smaller, homogeneous Nation with a common "Social Identity" like Switzerland or Israel, it becomes MUCH more viable, but we are talking countries with 10M~ people v. 320M people, and utterly incomparable landmass.

I'll take a platoon of volunteers over a brigade of conscripts.

I'm old enough to have worked in a nation with conscription for males 18 and over, the United States of America. I believe if our civilian leadership assigns missions of such magnitude that the Services need more human resources that they can muster with the all-volunteer force, then conscription is a viable option. Yes, draft both men and women. If we're going to open all occupational specialties to women, then they should be equally subject to conscription.

The primary problem I saw with Vietnam era conscription was deferments and almost all draftees going to the Army. Many waited it out in college if they had the resources. Others volunteered for service in "safer" specialties in the Air Force, Navy, or Coast Guard, costing them an extra two years of their life (4-year active duty vs 2-year in the Army), but avoiding combat. A future draft should have very few deferments (physical or mental disability or incarceration) and draftees should be spread evenly across the Armed Services. The required term of service should be equal to the volunteer's first enlistment in the same specialty.