It is NOT gonna happen in America for women even if some Democratic Senator’s want it….
Men haven’t been drafted in 50 years….
Conservatives are expressing outrage about a pending Senate National Defense Authorization Act that would require women to register for the draft, and two defense hawks opposed the Pentagon bill in the Armed Services Committee over the issue.
The Senate’s NDAA, which the committee approved on July 21, contains an amendment by the panel’s chairman, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, that would require women to sign up with Selective Service, just as men do between the ages of 18 and 25. If enacted, women could be drafted into military service in the event of a national emergency, though there is no prospect of that on the horizon, and no American has been drafted in nearly half a century.
If the bill became law in its present form, women would have to start registering one year after enactment of the NDAA, a knowledgeable Senate aide told CQ Roll Call.
But while most of the committee’s Republicans voted for the amendment, five voted no, senators and aides disclosed. And two of them, who normally are strong advocates for supporting the military — Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri — voted against the Pentagon authorization bill because of their concerns about the draft issue, their aides revealed Friday….
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The debate about whether women should have to sign up for the draft began in earnest in 2015, when women were for the first time permitted to perform “combat” functions in the military….
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This week, when news broke that the Senate’s NDAA could include the provision, Rep. Chip Roy, a conservative Republican from Texas, retweeted a story about it with this comment: “No. Non-negotiable. Thanks.” …
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Meanwhile, a bicameral group of liberal and conservative lawmakers, in a letter Friday to House Armed Services leaders, called for an end to the Selective Service system itself, which the members called “expensive, wasteful, outdated, punitive, and unnecessary.” The letter came from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Reps. Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore. and Rodney Davis, R-Ill….
Note…
The Selective Service itself isn’t going anywhere….
What’s the big deal about the “draft.”
Nothing more than some political sound bite and TOTALLY irrelevant to modern life
There hasn’t been anyone drafted in almost 50 years.Its highly unlikely anyone ever will be again.
Trump will turn this into a rant about trans-women being eligible for the NBA Draft.
Or the other way around
It is true that it is exclusively Democrat Members of Congress who have called for a return to the military draft, trying to prove a point or what not, but most likely just dumb politics.
We should eliminate the Selective Service program, which remains mandatory for males over 18, and Jack Reed wants to expand for females.
Does anyone disagree?
Nope.
Should have been junked years ago.
A total irrelevancy.
As someone who WAS called UP for the draft I give my view….
It should remain as it is today….
Dormant …But available if for some horrible reason it should need to used….
Biased…. but I NOT wish women should be drafted…
The right thing actually is they should if they truly want equality….
You were drafted? What year?
I would ask you to elaborate more but considering how reluctant you are to discuss vaccination status, that’s probably futile.
I see no reason to have a system in which people might be drafted. If the country truly needs them, I would hope that men and women alike would stand up to serve, as they have in the past in our history. Those that do not want to do so? I would not want them fighting. It’s a sad but unfortunate reality.
You cannot force someone to take a vaccine, even though it is good for them and for the nation and by the same token, you cannot force someone to fight in a war, even if it might be necessary for the nation.
All that being said, there are certainly a lot of ways for women to serve in the military, outside of combat.
As I assume we all know, Israel requires military service for nearly all (Jewish) citizens, men and women alike.
I support women serving in combat….
In Iraq….
They DID….
So it’s inconsistent for you then to support mandatory Selective Service sign-up for men and not women.
Sure….
But it IS how I feel…..
1968…..
Not having a Draft is all the more reason why military spending needs to be substantial, just in case. With the possibility of not having enough man (or woman) power to fight, we need to make sure we have weapons and technology that would ensure victory.
You need a system in place even if it’s not been used for decades ….
How would this “system” be enforced? It’s not workable in the present day.
Let’s recruit, honor, respect, and compensate the men and women who want to serve and are willing to sacrifice all if needed. Thank goodness there are still a lot of then. At the same time, let’s have the biggest bombs possible, just in case.
He said he was “called up.”
Sounds to me like he had to report for what was referred to in those days a “pre draft” physical and was declared ineligible got medical reasons.
That happened a lot back then.
Yes Jack….
No be-grudgement towards you if that was the case, but it would not be the same as “being drafted.”
A lot of people that year were drafted and were sent off to Vietnam. Their experience should not be lumped together with others.
I WAS Drafted…..
I got the letter….
We ALL got the letter……
That got the bus to go for the Physical
I do not think it was the same thing. Before my time though.
If you did not have to go off to war or serve without wanting to serve, you should consider yourself lucky.
Many others had a different fate.
CG….
With all respect…
You have no fucking idea what your talking about…
You had to be there..
First of all, I am sure this was a lot for you to deal with at the time. That would be the case for anyone.
Historically, it has always been discussed that people would “flunk” the physical (which of course many did intentionally) in order to *get out* of the Draft.
This is another one of the semantics things that you like to be stubborn about. I think in your heart of hearts you know that a kid who got drafted and shipped off to Vietnam and had a gun put in his hand has more of a claim to the label “drafted.”
Just like Weisselberg is more than just an “accountant.”
My draft story was rather comical.
I turned 19in 1969,first year they were doing the lottery.Nineteen year olds were going to the prime draft category.
I was in college with a “2s” student deferment .One day I received a notice that I had been reclassified “1a“ prime draft eligible,I hastened to the Draft board office where a nice elderly lady clerk informed me that my school hadn’t properly reported me.
She told me to go get them to submit some form and my 2s would be restored but advised me not to do so immediately.She explained that the first lottery was being held in the latter part of the year and if my number came up I could apply to be reclassified 2s.If it didnt and I was still “1a “ I would go to another classification which meant I could be drafted only after every other nineteen year old the following year.In other words ,Probably never.
My birthdate came up 171 .That year they drafted up to the lower 120s I believe .I never relinquished my “1a” status.
I was lucky.As people from that era know, not nearly as many people got to go to college in those days.A lot of my high school classmates couldn’t and were drafted.Three of them were killed in Vietnam.
While lucky and fortunate to have been able to finish college and go on to law school,I’ve always had ambivalent feelings about those days and my less fortunate friends.
Luck of the draft for ya Jack…
I had to sweat it out….
I would assume you both sweated it out at the time, reasonably so, as it was a time of war.
But technically, I do not believe it is the same thing as being drafted, anymore than the Happy Days episode were Richie and his buddies had to go take the Army physical. (I believe Richie later enlisted on the show)
Nope I didn’t “sweat it out” nor did anywhere in my post I claim to have been “drafted.”I presume you were talking about James.
Even if my number had come up,all I would have done is reapply for my 2s.In reality there was little chance of me being drafted.By the time I graduated it was no longer a factor in my life.
Only james has claimed to be “drafted.”
I would think it was a scary experience at the time to have to go to the draft office period or certainly to be called to take the physical. I do not want to minimize that but james should recognize the difference between what he had to go through and those who had to report to Basic Training and then overseas.
YeS I agree with that.
or even the people who were drafted and felt they had no choice but to go to Canada, etc.
Never knew anyone who went to Canada.
I knew some guys who “claimed” they were draft evaders.They were probably lying.
I used to go to anti war rallies.Even in S.C. they were held back then.
My reasons for attending though had far more to do with mingling with the females who were there and listening to the rock music from one of the bands inevitably present.
In Charleston they were usually held on Sunday afternoon.The crowd would gather at Marion Square with statue of John C Calhoun overlooking.Usually several hundred would turn out .After listening to the music for a few hours the crowd would start to thin out as the speeches began.After awhile a march would take place .By then about twenty or thirty hardcore activists were left.
Me?I left after the music ended,Ocassionally, with a girls telephone number!
Such were my anti war credentials!
Little did those ladies know you would vote for Nixon in 72..
(of course he ran in ’68 on eliminating the draft and eventually did early in his second term)
Haha!Yeah…
Most of these protests that I attended were in 1969 -1971.They were organized by af fellow whose last name was “Messenger.”He later left Charleston ,blasting us as not sufficiently “radical.”
By then I had been absorbed into the local Democratic machine.
It should be pointed out that Donald Trump took and passed a military physical when he was required to do so. Later on, he claimed to have bone spurs.
If Trump were to claim he had been “drafted” and thus had insight into the issue because he took the physical during the Vietnam War, he would be roundly criticized.
CG?
U was how old in 1968?
U remember Kent State Jack?
What was ur college campus like?
Why does that matter? Historical definitions as well as your fellow Boomers would agree with me that reporting for a physical does not mean you were “drafted.” You were draft eligible but were not drafted. Consider yourself fortunate, then when the moment passes, please go get vaccinated for Covid.
Ok CG ?
U just do not understand the times….
I’m done with this for now…..
I understand the times. For your sake, I am glad you did not have to go and are around all these decades latter to believe you are the font of all wisdom.
I also understand that many people did have to go who did not want you. You did not have to go. I wish you (and others in society) would just give those people their due.
I had to register for Selective Service when I turned 18 in 1967, my freshman year at U.C. Berkeley, and qualified for 2-S status.
Without giving a boring and irrelevant narrative (that CG would likely dig up for some argumentative purpose eight years from now), I wasn’t able to stay in school, but maintained my 2-S status in junior college when trying to get back into Berkeley (which I did only to flunk out again in a single quarter.)
Eventually, however, my draft board in Providence required me in the summer of 1968 to report for a Pre-Induction physical at Oakland’s Armed Forces Examination and Induction Center, which I did and, much to my personal regret, passed.
After various appeals against a 1-A classification (after flunking Berkeley a second time), I lucked out when Richard Nixon instituted the draft lottery, for which I was classified 1-H (holding) but not 1-A since my birthday was picked no. 273 out of 365 or 366.
Never in my life have I ever even thought of saying that I was drafted. Had I been, I was very afraid that I might crack up under Basic Training, and might conceivably have returned to my birthplace of London since I still had British citizenship.
But never in my life have I ever thought of saying that I had been drafted. This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a claim.
And millions more men were not so lucky.
Guys get ‘drafted’ in pro-sports….
If they don’t pass the physical ?
They don’t make the team
But they STILL GOT DRAFTED……
Picked = Drafted
I’m done with this right now
This is for u DSD……
Gheez!😔
The better analogy would be the Pre-Draft Combine. They go there, do interviews with executives, have physicals, perform tasks related to their sports, etc. If they do really poorly at any of those aspects, they might not get drafted at all.
Of course, these athletes all want to be drafted.
Other way round for Selective Service, James: you’re just trying pathetically as always not to admit your error by semantic twists.
In Selective Service,
1) you get classified;
2) if your classification (e.g. 1-A) comes up for the draft, then you take the physical;
3a) if you don’t pass the physical (i.e. the Army & Marines don’t want you), you’re not drafted
3b) if you do pass the physical and other qualifications (i.e. Uncle Sam does want you), then you may be drafted