A plan to draft girls into the U.S. military has entered the congressional pipeline en route to the desk of President Obama, who already has been key in opening the nation’s military to open homosexuality and females in the foxholes, thanks to several Republicans who joined with the almost-unanimous Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee.
It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., ended up voting against his own amendment that he said he introduced to begin a conversation about the issue of women in the military’s tip-of-the-spear combat troops and mandatory enlistment.
Hunter is opposed to the Obama’ administration’s recent moves to install women in even the most dangerous, violent military positions. He said the draft now is sexist, because it targets young men, and not young women.
But, the Washington Post said his “gamble that committee members would shy away from forcing women into the draft backfired when a slim majority – including five Republicans – opted to endorse the measure by a vote of 32 to 30.”
If it makes it through Congress, it would demand that young girls and women ages 18 to 26 register with the Selective Service, which would run any draft that would be imposed.
So far, there seems to be tentative acceptance from Sen. John McCain, a senior senator on the Senate Armed Services Committee, but reluctance from House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Officials at Center for Military Readiness, who have studied the issue, surveyed the experts and analyzed the problem for years, said the “Draft America’s Daughters” plan, an amendment to the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, is just wrong.
“It is unfortunate that all Democrats and a few liberal Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee voted for Congressman Duncan Hunter’s ‘Draft America’s Daughters’ amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017,” said CMR chief Elaine Donnelly.
“Committee Chairman ‘Mac’ Thornberry, R-Texas, to his credit, tried to deter the vote, but Republican members Martha McSally, Arizona, Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Joe Heck, Nevada, and Chris Gibson, New York joined with feminist Democrats in approving Hunter’s amendment, 32-30,” she said.
“The intent of the measure was to draw attention to inconvenient facts and major problems with the administration’s no-exceptions-allowed plans to order minimally qualified women into direct ground combat units such as the infantry,” Donnelly said.
“Selective Service is a national defense contingency policy, and there is nothing ‘sexist’ about it. Gender-related physiological differences between men and women fully justify women’s exemption from direct ground combat units that attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action. The same realities apply to Selective Service law as well,” she said.
“Congressman Hunter voted against his own bill, but approval by the House and eventually by the Senate and President Obama would result in unsuspecting girls-next-door facing Selective Service obligations and a possible future draft in the event of a national emergency,” she warned.
“If Selective Service were re-activated to fight an existential threat, thousands of women could be called up for accelerated military training. Only a few might meet the demanding standards of combat arms units such as the infantry,” she said. ‘Would the expenditure of time, effort, and resources to find those few women, and to train them for combat arms units where military needs are greatest, be worth it? Only Congress has the right, and the responsibility, to say ‘No’ on national security grounds – especially when women are free to volunteer, as they always have.”
Her organization recently issued a report on “Women, War, and Selective Service Obligations.”
It said, “The argument could be made that including women in the draft pool could actually hinder the flexibility, efficiency and speed necessary to respond to a national crisis. As Prof. Woodruff explains, if Selective Service called up women and men ages 18-26 in roughly equal numbers, the administrative burden of finding the theoretical one-in-four woman who might be qualified would make it more difficulty to find better-qualified persons.”
It noted, “If 75 percent of the men can meet the combat standards but only 25 percent of the women can meet the same standards, considerably more time, effort and resources would be expended testing, evaluating and screening women to identify the 25 percent who qualify.”
Donnelly continued, “During a time of national emergency, when the very survival of our nation depends upon success on the battlefield, political paralysis and an administrative nightmare trying to find and induct a few qualified women would weaken America’s defenses. For the same reasons that women should not be ordered into the infantry, more lives would be put at risk at the worst possible time.”
She warned that if certain political influences prevail, the courts could strike the constitutionality of Selective Service, meaning “there will be no law at all.”
Donnelly pointed out, “Three years of comprehensive, scientific studies, which Congress has yet to consider, clearly show that assigning minimally qualified women to the combat arms will make fighting units less strong, less fast, more vulnerable to debilitating injuries, less deployable on short notice, and less capable during prolonged direct ground combat deployments.
“Selective Service registration is a low-cost contingency plan that backs-up the all-volunteer force, both active-duty and reserve. Contrary to statements made by Rep. McSally in support of the Hunter amendment, Selective Service does not register or draft people for support roles or playing in the band.
“Like all insurance policies, the system is not necessary . . . until it is. A major national emergency, perhaps on multiple fronts, might require national mobilization and rapid induction of sufficient numbers of civilians who are capable of replacing casualties fallen in battle,” Donnelly said.
WND had reported only weeks earlier when the Pentagon’s top brass said if all military jobs must be open to women, then lawmakers should make it mandatory for them to register for future drafts.
Gen. Mark A. Milley, chief of staff of the Army, and Gen. Robert B. Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, told the Senate Armed Services Committee then that registering all women for Selective Service is an appropriate request given the push to make military occupational specialties gender-neutral.
“Now that the restrictions that exempted women from [combat jobs] don’t exist, then you’re a citizen of a United States,” Gen. Neller told Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the Washington Post reported. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to serve, but you [need to] register.”
“Senator, I think that all eligible and qualified men and women should register for the draft,” added Milley.
PropagandaGuard 