Last week, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) introduced bills H.R. 747 and 748 to the House for consideration — this bill package will be the first national service law to be considered by the Congress in recent history. The package has a 3 percent chance of getting past committee, as determined by Govtrack.us.
In light of potential crippling cuts to the military due to the impending March 1 sequester — in which at least 189,000 active military personnel will be discharged, 800,000 civilian employees will be laid off, 25 ships and 327 aircrafts will be forced off active duty and the USS George Washington will be left as the nation’s only response-ready carrier — the radical expansion of the military’s manpower is outraging Americans.
President Obama has walked both sides of this debate. In 2008, as a presidential candidate, Obama said, “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
In 2007, however, he refuted the idea of national service or a mandated draft: “I think that if women are registered for service — not necessarily in combat roles, and I don’t agree with the draft — I think it will help to send a message to my two daughters that they’ve got obligations to this great country as well as boys do.”
Drafting women
Rangel, in a press release issued Feb. 15 in defense of the bill, stated, “Now that women can serve in combat they should register for the Selective Service alongside their male counterparts. Reinstating the draft and requiring women to register for the Selective Service would compel the American public to have a stake in the wars we fight as a nation. We must question why and how we go to war, and who decides to send our men and women into harm’s way.”
The question of if women should be drafted into the military has always been a cantankerous one. During World War II, the U.S. came close to initiating a female draft when the shortage of military nurses became severe. However, a last-minute volunteer drive prevented the draft from being needed.
From 1975 to 1980, the draft registration process was on “deep standby,” in which no one was required to register for the draft. However, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Carter reactivated draft registration as a way to have access to rapid manpower expansion for the military if needed.
The proposed H.R. 747 — the National Universal Service Act – -would mandate that all persons between the age of 18 and 25 to perform “national service” for two years — a tour of duty in the Uniformed Services (the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps) or a commitment of public service to a federal, state or local agency, including community-based organizations.
This bill was first introduced in 2003, and was reintroduced in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. The bill will affect 30 million Americans.
The accompanying All American Selective Service Act (H.R. 748) is also expected to modify Selective Services’ procedures, including mandating that women must register for the draft in order to remain eligible for federal employment and services. The bill has been referred to the House Armed Services Committee.
13.5 million women would become eligible for Selective Service due to this bill.
“I served in Korea, and understand that sometimes war is inevitable,” Rangel continued. “However military engagement should be our last resort. If we must go to war, every American should be compelled to stop and think twice about whether it is worth sending our brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters to fight. Currently less than one percent of America’s population is unfairly shouldering the burden of war.”
Establishment of the Pentagon’s new policy of allowing women to fight in combat theaters — which most soldiers would attest already happened before the official pronouncement — removed the final hurdle to drafting women into the military in case of emergency. However, a powerful vocal minority still exists that can block female drafting.
“Once you allow women into combat, you are then essentially ordering all women to fight,” Tommy Sears, executive director at The Center for Military Readiness, told FoxNews.com. “You have a vocal minority forcing women who would rather not be fighting to go to war.”
Federal law mandates that any changes in policy to the eligibility of women serving in military operations in combat roles require the Pentagon to provide a “detailed analysis of the legal implication of the proposed change with respect to the constitutionality of the application of the Military Selective Service Act … to males only.”
The Selective Service is an executive branch agency separate from the military. It reports directly to the president. Activation of or changing the rules of the draft requires Congressional legislation, however.
Making military service mandatory
As the military is “all-volunteer,” this matters little. However, should conscription become mandatory, the fight ahead promises to be politically charged.
In 1994, President Clinton asked the Department of Defense to update mobilization requirements for the draft, and “continue to review the arguments for and against continuing to exclude women from registration now that they can be assigned to combat roles other than ground combat.”
The Department of Defense responded “that the restriction of females from assignments below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground, provides justification from exempting women from registration (and a draft) as set forth in the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Rostker v. Goldberg (1981).” The DoD did note that the source material for this decision was dated and that the participation of women in the military is essential.
Major concerns about denying women access to the draft is thought to fall along the lines of traditional prejudices against women fighting. However, from the service side of the argument, there is little objection to female combat service. “Gender, height, weight, religion, sexual preference, race — I don’t care,” said 3rd Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Thomas Anderson. “It all comes down to your ability to do what the Army asks you to do.”
Mandatory military service would be helpful in meeting military recruitment goals, which — in previous years, the Army had trouble meeting, and would be a boost to the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) trained Americans that are ready to join the workforce. Compulsory service exists in many countries today, including Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Mexico, Russia and South Korea.
However, it is commonly held that the Republicans will reject the proposal on the grounds that the bill will represent a massive expansion of the executive branch and the military’s authority and size.
Rangel previously introduced this proposal in 2002.