26 February 2013
MILITARY: The Pentagon is lifting the ban on active combat roles for women but women currently do not and should not have to sign up for the draft.
By Isabel De La Garza, Senior Writer
In late January, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed an order rescinding the exclusion of women from active combat roles, opening up 237,000 individual jobs across service branches for women. These changes are to occur by no later than January 1, 2016 and women are to be assigned to combat communication, logistic and driver roles at first. Incidentally, 2016 is the year that most Poly High School sophomores and some freshman will be turning 18, the age at which most male citizens must register for the draft.
The Selective Service System (SSS) is used to keep track of draft-age young men who meet qualifications for active duty combat roles. The U.S. has not had a draft since Vietnam when it was used to fill vacancies in the armed forces that could not be filled by voluntary means. Currently the U.S. military is set up in registration mode, in which a citizen must sign up for the military in order to serve. Men, however, must still sign up for the draft, just in case there is a need for more active duty troops than can be provided by volunteer registration and reserve forces. Although a reinstatement of the draft is not likely, many people are beginning to wonder if women, who were previously exempted from the draft due to the inability to serve on active duty, should have to sign up for the draft now.
In order for men and women to be equal, some feel that women should have to sign up for the draft, especially because they will be on the front lines. There are, however, many issues with the draft and the active duty roles of women that contradict this position. The world population is composed of 51% females and 49% males. In the U.S. as well there is a higher number of women than men. The draft works on a lottery system in which months and dates are placed in a lottery and chosen. The eligible 20-year-old citizens who have signed up with the SSS and who were born on the month and day indicated by the draft lottery must then report for classification and be deemed fit for military service before they are slated for active duty. Active duty service men or men in military training institutions are not eligible for the draft, but they are generally of drafting age. This would mean that, of the remaining civilian population, more women would be drafted than men, making the draft disproportionate.
Additionally, draftees are enlisted. Enlisted soldiers make up a majority of servicemen on the front lines. Currently, women in active duty are not slated to serve on the front lines in direct combat roles like men are, although that is the long-term goal. They are set to have supportive combat roles, which help to keep other combat duty soldiers safer on the front lines. While they are still at a major risk by being on the front line, they are somewhat less exposed due to their communication, transport and logistic roles. These roles are almost the same as the support roles which women are allowed to have currently. All that has changed is the location.
As these roles are not technically combat roles, women should not have to sign up for the draft while the roles are still supportive. Although they are slated for arms combat, not many servicewomen are excited about training for such roles. Few have volunteered for training and those few have all failed before completing the training, like 25% of men. Additionally, women make up only 14% of all active duty military personnel, who have all willingly signed up for service. If they do not wish to participate, it is less likely that the female population will respond well to the draft, even if they support it on principle.