Including Women Is Not The Right Next Step For Selective Service

PFC Lisa McDonald - how does it LET you the voter say you want or don’t want to go to war? That is not true in shape or form
You may elect all the people you want to say no to going to war but that doesn’t it won’t happen

Having had to register for the draft way back when ( I cheated and enlisted to have my choice), the only draft that would be acceptable to me is a random selection, so there isn't a vast majority of poor and minorities, as there was during Viet Nam. NO college student waiver or any other waiver (other than a 4F or the sole surviving child). EVEYBODY PLAYS! rich and poor alike. Empty the prisons of all non violent felons (other than drug dealers or those convicted of manufacturing drugs) with the stipulation they must serve on Active duty, the same number of years left on their sentence. Open this to discussion?

PO2 Dan Shulla - Your statement about a vast majority of poor and minorities doesn't hold water. Check the facts of who was serving in Viet Nam.

Good point Ma'am.

SCPO Jason McLaughlin - Well if we're digging into the details, warrant officers aren't "commissioned", either :-P (please take the preceding comment with levity and humor, it's hard to convey tone via text). And last I knew, Army warrant officers needed an Associate's Degree, at least for the helo pilot program. I don't know how the Navy works (I can ask someone later), but in the USMC the Limited Duty officers that came from the Warrant Officer ranks still needed a degree, and Warrant Officers still needed at least an Associate's in addition to the minimum 8 years in the occfield, at least in the career fields/MOSes I worked with/in (ARFF, various INTs). It's also possible to get a commission with only an Associate's (for certain programs), but you cannot get promoted to Captain or get career designated until a Bachelor's is finished. I know of no Marines who were commissioned directly from the enlisted ranks without a degree since the Vietnam era, although I suppose there might be a few exceptions possibly in the 80's. Modern era, it doesn't happen, hence MECEP and some of the other similar programs. Unless there has been a significant change since my EAS ~2 years ago.

SFC Shirley Whitfield - I think you're missing the point. The fact that you retired a long time ago doesn't make you point any more cogent than mine. I'm fully aware of the contributions of female servicemembers. I served with them in Iraq, I have lead some of them and I was lead by some of them. Some of my most outstanding subordinates were females and could kick the ass of 90% of the guys in the platoon in a physical fitness test or MCMAP drill, on top of their exceptional work ethic and intellect. That's not the point.

The point is that the feminists are hypocrites about "equal treatment" (and I'm not talking about female servicemembers, but the civilian SJWs who never served who are pushing for some of these changes for no reason other than a social agenda). They want all of the benefits and none of the disadvantages. They want every MOS open to women, even if the women servicemembers themselves aren't making a big deal out of it, but then they oppose opening Selective Service to women, even though the lack of women in combat MOSes is a large part of the justification for not including them in Selective Service in the first place. They want to force the DoD to open up the SOF operator jobs to women, even though almost no women have expressed a desire to actually get those MOSes. Very few women have actually attempted to join even the regular infantry field.

And I must clarify for you a misconception you seem to have as what constitutes "part of" SOF (as most of the media have this misconception as well). Bravo Zulu to your daughter, by the way. She is yet another proof that women can handle themselves in a combat situation. But while she may have been attached to a SOF unit as support, she was not an "operator". There is a difference, and the "operator" type jobs are the ones that are actually still closed. Most support personnel attached to SOF units or organic to them are MOSes/rates/jobs that are already open to women (intel, admin, mechanics, helo crew, medic, etc). The ones that are closed are things that the USMC calls "Critical Skills Operators", the Navy calls "SEALs", the Army calls "18_", etc, and there is very little push from actual female servicemembers to join those career fields. That doesn't mean that female servicemembers haven't distinguished themselves in service *WITH* a SOF unit (as your daughter has demonstrated), but those particular occupation codes are currently restricted, and nearly all of the push to open them to women comes from outside of the DoD -- i.e. people who haven't served and have no interest in serving or joining those occfields.

I also know plenty about enlisted personnel who have degrees. I'm one of them (well, I was when I was enlisted). I also worked in a career field where anecdotally 25%-35% (possibly more) of the enlisted had degrees, and many had ASVABs higher than the officers in the unit. I also agree that just having a degree doesn't make someone qualified to be an officer (and Lord knows I've dealt with those types as well). My point was not whether a degree reflects on an individual's quality regarding leadership, simply the modern military's requirement than commissioned officers have a college degree.

Sgt Jonathan J. - It's all good. Warrant Officers in all services have been commissioned since 1986 (Defense Authorization Act). The following is the list of requirements for Warrant Officer from the goarmy.com webpage (I draw your attention to the first bullet):
Requirements
Do you have what it takes to become a Warrant Officer? Applicants for the Warrant Officer Candidate School and Warrant Officer Flight Training program must:
•Have a high school diploma.
•Be at least 18 years old at the time of enlistment and not have passed their 33rd birthday at the time of selection (for aviators) or their 46th birthday for all other specialties. Age waivers are considered on a case-by-case basis.
•Be a citizen of the United States.
•For WOFT Candidates only: Achieve a qualifying score on the Selection Instrument for Flight Training (SIFT). SIFT test results are valid indefinitely, as long as verifiable official records exist. No waivers are available for failure to meet the minimum SIFT score.
•Earn a General Technical score of 110 or higher on the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).
•Have at least 12 months remaining on their enlistment contract.
•Meet the Army's screening height and weight standards and pass the standard three-event Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) not more than six months before their application packet is boarded.
•Take a physical exam and meet entry medical fitness standards as determined by military medical authorities no more than 24 months prior to the date of application. Aviation applicants must also undergo a Class 1A Flight Physical Examination and have results approved by Flight Surgeons at Fort Rucker, Alabama, prior to the selection board. The Flight Physical must be less than 18 months old.
Additional Requirements For Technical Specialties
•Must complete MOS training
•Must complete appropriate Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES) Leadership Courses
•Must have documented proficiency in specialty area
•Must meet prerequisite standards for specialty area

I also have 2 daughters. This would be hard for me even though my wife is a soldier.

Sgt Mark Ramos - there are many reasons why women haven’t been in the selective service. To start with many women have joined voluntarily over the last 90 years they needed women and women joined lots
The other reason was combat and the combat environment which Congress said no to for many years

SFC Robert Escher - You wrote that many women have joined voluntarily and therefore shouldn't have to register. How is that a valid reason? By that logic, men should not have to register as well.
You wrote that the other reason was the combat prohibition for women. That's actually one of the reasons why they should now register. As society pushes for men and women to be treated the same in all things, it's only fair and logical that they should be treated the same for selective service as well. Why should young women not have the same obligations and responsibilities of our young men if everything else is the same?

I didn’t say they didn’t have.but many did you need to think of the mindset 70 80 years ago. Women fighting in combat was unheard of and many people could not think of it due to many reasons. Many many women did volunteer and it was for a few years away from combat or in the US.
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE. With a women sitting next to you in a “foxhole”?
Politicians Families could not think just that as been mentioned here “ I cannot think of my daughters being in Combat”
So they weren’t involved in the SS system. What I did say that there were more than enough women that DID join that performed many jobs that released men to go into combat.
Do I support women in the SS system I think so

SFC Robert Escher - ok guys every time some is brough up there the foxhole thing. If your are in a combat zone and their someone else is in the fox hole are you going to worry about the person or the bullets flying over your heads. By the time the person male or female make it thru basic and the combat training they should be qualified to be in the fox hole too.