Female Draft Closer

From the Stars and Stripes:

"In surprise turn, House panel backs women in the draft"

A House Republican’s attempt to take a stand against women in combat took an unexpected turn Wednesday. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a vocal opponent of infantry and special operations integration, proposed opening up the Selective Service — and future military drafts — to women during a House committee debate over next year’s defense budget. The Marine veteran hoped to raise opposition to combat integration by forcing fellow lawmakers to consider young women dying on the front lines of a major war. “This is about a big war, meaning when you have tens of thousands of people dying — tens of thousands — that is when you have a draft,” said Hunter of California, who vowed to vote against his own draft proposal. Instead, the proposal whipped up enough support for female integration that members of the House Armed Services Committee voted in favor of opening the Selective Service and the draft. “I actually support your amendment and will be delighted to vote for it,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif. The Selective Service measure is now part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which was approved by the committee early Thursday, and heads for a vote on the House floor. If passed by both chambers of Congress in a final defense bill, women ranging in age from 18-26 would for the first time have to join men in registering and could potentially be forced into combat. The question of the draft suddenly looms because the Defense Department decided in December to open all remaining gender-segregated combat jobs — about 225,000 — to female troops. “If we want equality in this country, we want women to be treated precisely like men are treated and that they should not be discriminated against, we should be willing to support a universal conscription,” Speier said. In February, Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., chairman the Senate Armed Services Committee, came out in support of requiring women to sign up with Selective Service, though he said a future draft is highly unlikely. Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley have testified on Capitol Hill that there should be no exemption for women now that the military is all inclusive. Men are required to register with Selective Service when they turn 18 years old. In 1981, the Supreme Court backed the exemption for women because at the time they did not fill combat roles. The NDAA bill passed early Thursday also orders the Pentagon to study the issue of the draft and report back to Congress, he said. Meanwhile, a lawsuit challenging the all-male draft is working its way through the U.S. court system and might ultimately decide who can be drafted.

^ Women should be allowed in every role (combat or supportive) that men are as long as they pass the same tests and fulfill the same requirements. With that said women should also have to register for the Selective Service in case the Draft is ever brought back (I don't think it will be since it completely divided the country for a decade during the Vietnam War.) Any one who says women should be treated equal  - which I think they should be - then there can be no exceptions. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/in-surprise-turn-house-panel-backs-women-in-the-draft-1.406735