American Women and the Selective Service

Selective Service: Yes

Draft: Yes

American MEN shouldn't be drafted, let alone American women.

I don't believe anyone should be drafted. It is one thing to serve your country it is another to be forced to kill another human being (which could potentially be expected in a war, no?).

If there must be a draft, women should be included.

Imagine if no one wanted to serve in the military?

I suppose if it's good enough for men then it's good enough for women.

I don't believe that anyone, male or female, should be subject to the draft. I am against slavery or involuntary servitude!

I voted dont know....
We have many who volunteer to be in the military, men and women and I believe they all serve, be it war or not.
To think that the time would come when we would institute the draft, well, I hope that we have moved beyond that. If not however I dont think being male or female should have anything to do with it. It should be will you or wont you be able to serve, can you serve, need more volunteers, etc.
My opinion is one of which it is not what gender you are that matters here.

I believe in equal opportunity. ci

I believe in equal opportunity for one and all.

Women currently have the right to serve, as men do. I thank God we do not have to draft either, because people who do not want to serve, can make us wish they didn't.

I think there should be ONE skill level, not one discriminating in favor of women.

I heard that women, who are Marines never engage in combat.

I believe, at the moment, that no women engage in actual combat. The exception is Air Force fighter pilots. I believe that there are one or two women who actually fly bomber planes into war zones, but I could be mistaken.

As I have said before, I am against the draft. In a volunteer military though, a person needs to be given a job that he/she is capable of doing. Some women are not cut out to be in combat, but neither are some men.

When these people are tested by the military, to see where they would serve best, there should be no difference in the prerequisites for men and women (except maybe height requirement) for a particular job. If a person can do it, fine. If not, there is plenty of work to do, and they could be assigned to a task where their talents could be put to best use.

Phoenix, Your "maybe height requirement" caught my eye. I see nothing that would limit a very short or very tall person from any job with some simple design changes. c.i.

Intersting responses. The women among my (pre-christian) ancestors went to war, willingly. When they were of child-bearing years, they stayed home to train the young men and women in the use of weapons. When their children were fully grown, they once again had to meet their military obligations, or provide a substitute.

I recall during the Gulf War an interview which was done with a major in the 101st Airborne, a helicopter pilot. It was made especially poignant, as she was killed on the first day of the war when her aircraft crashed in an advanced landing zone. I do not know if it were the result of hostile fire.

c.i., people who are "too tall" don't get assigned to submarines, although much larger people can "fit" now than was the case in WWII. This makes sense, as well, since one would be unlikely to "re-design" a multi-billion dollar vessel to accomodate taller people.

The part about "too short" is interesting as well. When ships of the Hudsons Bay Company would leave on their annual voyage to Canada, they would stop in the islands of Scotland to hire new employees. During the wars of the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, the Royal Navy and the Army took anyone who was over 5'5" tall--so HBC ended up with a lot of very short, Scots employees. Wonder if that effects the average height of males in Canada today?

American women will fit nicely in a submarine. I would assume that many American women MDs are in the service.

A great editorial about the draft that was in the Boston Globe yesterday.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/019/oped/Who_wants_the_draft_+.shtml

In case of war:

Men drafted: Yes

Women drafted: No