This lunacy in support of drafting females expressed during the Republican debate can only be attributable to the fact that none of these egalitarian wannabe commanders-in-chief have ever served in the military. Not Rubio. Not Bush. Not Christie. Not Carson. Not Kasich.
Unlike this assortment of characters, I know a thing or two about the Army. I spent 20 years in that service, a good portion of which as an NCO before becoming an officer. My branch, the Military Intelligence Corps, was filled with females, so I know what I am talking about.
I enlisted in 1976 when the last remnants of the draft army were barely visible – but the stories of male draftees endured for decades. Let me be frank. The US Army had a hard enough time with male draftees, and currently has a hard enough time with female volunteers.
My only “war experience” was Desert Storm. I was assigned to G-2, VII Corps. It was that unit that contained the five armored divisions which took on the Iraqi Republican Guard. My job, as Order of Battle Officer, was to write a daily intelligence summary for the Corps Headquarters and the five divisions, so I was not exactly peeling potatoes. Yet, my unit deployed at 52% strength – and one reason was the fact that no less than FIVE FEMALE VOLUNTEERS, to include two officers, were pregnant before we shipped out to Saudi Arabia in early December 1990, and therefore could not deploy with us. Eventually we received replacements from stateside, but the initial six weeks of Desert Storm were exceedingly demanding because we had deployed short-handed.
The bottom line is this. If male draftees caused problems, and if a disproportionate amount of female volunteers cause problems (some of which are swept under the rug), can anyone imagine the magnitude of difficulties caused by FEMALE DRAFTEES?
6 comments
If we are no longer denying women the opportunity to serve in front line combat units, then we should be consistent in our policy and not deny 18 year old women the right to register for the draft. Require them to register, just like men.
They are not “just like men.” While women (for PC purposes) are now allowed to serve in combat units, so very few of them can meet the physical standards. Thus, your point is rendered invalid. In my entire career, I have seen perhaps one female out of 5,000 who could physically do what I could do. Do you want a PC-driven circus or do you want a top notch military? You cannot have both.
I was not talking about the worthiness or the ability of women in combat roles. I’m talking about policy. The Administration can’t claim equal opportunity for everyone in the military and then pick and choose which opportunities will be equal. If everyone is now eligible for combat roles, then everyone should be eligible for the draft. I’m sure that when 18-year old women have to go sign up to put their lives on the line for this country, they’ll realize what “equal opportunity” really means. It’s more than a bumper sticker and a campaign slogan.
I think we can agree that the Obama Administration has succeeded in absolutely ruining our military. Obama has indeed turned our military into a PC-driven circus. The Army I retired from was certainly not the Army I joined.
We have an all volunteer force. If we ever get to the point where we are relying on draftees to fill our ranks it means we’re either in all out world war, the volunteer force has quit, or both. Either way we’ll have a heck of a lot more to worry about!
Nice article. We had the same issue in Bosnia in the late 1990’s, 2nd Gulf War, and Afghanistan. That said, I had women under my leadership in war zones and I had no issues with them. It borders on gross generalization to say this, but, as a group, all performed well and were motivated by the same patriotism as the men. They wanted to serve their country, too. In my opinion, the bigger issue forced by the Service Chiefs wanting women to register for the draft is that it puts responsibility directly on the heads of POTUS and SecDef to justify why they are sending any service members into harm’s way to support a feckless and ineffective national security strategy. It used to be that, to maintain popular support for a war, POTUS had to be able to justify to the mothers of America why it was necessary for some of their sons to die in a foreign war. Now, POTUS is going to have to explain to the mothers of America why their daughters are going to die, too. And there is nothing this administration has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, or the fight against ISIS that comes close to clearing that bar.
If we are going to have women in the military, it should be a punishable offense under the UCMJ to get pregnant. Either sign up and serve your nation, or start a family. When a man’s spouse has a child, or his wife is 8 months pregnant, it doesn’t stop him from doing his duty or performing his job requirements. The same standard should apply to all in uniform.
Yes, I can imagine the magnitude of difficulties, but too bad, so sad. The GOP and current powers that be have destroyed our military from the inside out over the last seven years and thousands of American service members have died unnecessarily. No one had the courage to take a stand to put a stop to the destruction of the BEST military in the world. So as the boys like to say “Embrace the Suck”.
I noticed you left off the one and only candidate that is pro military. Go ahead vote for more of the same.