Posted on Oct 24, 2017
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Is there anything now that prevents a female from registering for the draft voluntarily?
The Pentagon says the country should stick with mandatory registration for a military draft, and it advocates requiring women to sign up too for the first time in the nation’s history.
The Pentagon says the country should stick with mandatory registration for a military draft, and it advocates requiring women to sign up too for the first time in the nation’s history.
Pentagon advocates requiring women to sign up for military draft
Posted from m.washingtontimes.com
Pentagon
Women in the Military
DoD
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 4
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Here is my thought. I have a daughter who is of that age now. Do I want her to sign up for the draft...NOOOOOO! Would she do it if it was required YESSSS! I think in the argument of equality they should make women register. If we are opening up the ranks and all positions to women across the board on equal footing as men, then Ithink the draft should apply to that as well. Can't have the cake and eat it too...if yo are going into traditional male roles then everything the males have to do should apply to the females as well. Do I like it as a father, no...is it the right thing to do?...IMHO...yes.
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Note the mission and gender. The basic mission would be needed. Further, there is no draft. If genders, other than male want true equality, they should be required to register just like males. Criteria could be established for them prior to resuming the draft.
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Although they may all register for a draft, of the 2 million men that are registered each year a fraction of them would actually be appropriate candidates. Including women would extend the pool of qualified candidates and ensure drug free, weight appropriate candidates. Presumably, this would be in a time of greatest national need and likely there would be volunteers as there have been since 9/11. Those with bone spurs would likely be unqualified. Get the best by growing the target population. Makes sense to me.
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CPO Nate S.
Col Rebecca Lorraine I agree that not all men who register are fit. As a Navy Corpsman I am aware of this. I use to manage the PRT/PFT (aka fitness) program at one of my commands. About 18 months ago I was helping a retired USA SgtMaj type with her PhD Thesis (doing some data work , aka number crunching for her) on weight and physical readiness and the impact this has on the pool of suitable candidates. The data on weight she gathered was amazing. Also, we know the lack of fitness pre-entry is a major issue for preventable non-combat injuries after entry.
I am also a little concerned with your statement "...extend the pool of qualified candidates and ensure drug free, weight appropriate candidates..." Implies women neither have drug problems and are all of appropriate weight at entry. This is simply not true. Both, men and women enter service with issues that are at times not detected or admitted to.
Yes, "...likely there would be volunteers as there have been since 9/11..." but, when some who wanted to return to AD only being out 3-4 yrs were told like school kids "Hey, just enjoy your retirement and let the youngsters have this one." Did not sit well with some. In fact, I know (well knew) some that felt that after honorable service and a willingness to return to AD after their country had been attacked, decided to "check out" because they felt "left-out."
Here are some interesting articles/studies:
- https://www.wpr.org/study-most-young-americans-arent-fit-military-service
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31394052/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28919497/
- https://academic.oup.com/milmed/article/181/suppl_1/50/4209407
Again, I agree with the broader pool of candidates. Yet, we have to focus on the need to let civilians understand that when < 35%, generally by recent studies, of the population is physically fit, all else being even, we have an issue. As you know at any one time < 1% of the total population actually serves on AD, NG or Reserves. The nation is not understanding the relative risk and the links to both the social determinants of health pre-entry including physical education in K-12 and nutritional factors in the same age group.
In closing, to increase the pool of men and of women we have to consider the social determinants of health as a key factor in entry fitness, especially in attitude.
Just sharing some thoughts..........................
I am also a little concerned with your statement "...extend the pool of qualified candidates and ensure drug free, weight appropriate candidates..." Implies women neither have drug problems and are all of appropriate weight at entry. This is simply not true. Both, men and women enter service with issues that are at times not detected or admitted to.
Yes, "...likely there would be volunteers as there have been since 9/11..." but, when some who wanted to return to AD only being out 3-4 yrs were told like school kids "Hey, just enjoy your retirement and let the youngsters have this one." Did not sit well with some. In fact, I know (well knew) some that felt that after honorable service and a willingness to return to AD after their country had been attacked, decided to "check out" because they felt "left-out."
Here are some interesting articles/studies:
- https://www.wpr.org/study-most-young-americans-arent-fit-military-service
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31394052/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28919497/
- https://academic.oup.com/milmed/article/181/suppl_1/50/4209407
Again, I agree with the broader pool of candidates. Yet, we have to focus on the need to let civilians understand that when < 35%, generally by recent studies, of the population is physically fit, all else being even, we have an issue. As you know at any one time < 1% of the total population actually serves on AD, NG or Reserves. The nation is not understanding the relative risk and the links to both the social determinants of health pre-entry including physical education in K-12 and nutritional factors in the same age group.
In closing, to increase the pool of men and of women we have to consider the social determinants of health as a key factor in entry fitness, especially in attitude.
Just sharing some thoughts..........................
Study: Most Young Americans Aren't Fit For Military Service
President Donald Trump has called for bolstering the U.S. Military with increased funding and recruitment. But a new report from the Heritage Foundation finds most young Americans aren’t eligible for service in the military, even if they wanted to join.
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Col Rebecca Lorraine
CPO Nate S. nice summary. Thank you for contributing and pointing out my error in communication. I did intend for this to mean all populations being free from social, physical and psychological impediments for a successful military service.
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CPO Nate S.
Col Rebecca Lorraine - Thank you for being gracious! I did not figure a senior military nurse meant to transmit incorrectly. Have worked with great military nurses, and figured better a Chief Corpsman commenting, better than someone else. No worries! Again, thank you!
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