It's time for Women to Register for the Selective Service System

      The Mission of the Selected Service System is to  provide trained and untrained personnel to the DoD in the event of a national emergency.  The Selected Service System as we know it today was reinstituted under President Jimmy Carter in 1980.  Almost all male U.S. citizens, and male aliens living in the U.S., who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service.  However, women do not have the opportunity to register with the Selective Service System.  It is my opinion that women in the United States should register with the Selective Service System because they deserve equal treatment under the law and are not only capable of succeeding in combat roles but actually are serving in combat roles today.
    
     In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled that gender discrimination is OK with regards to the Selective Service System in Rostker v. Goldberg.   Justice William Rhenquist wrote that since women do not have combat roles and that the purpose of registration was to prepare for a draft of combat troops, then women would not be needed in the event of a draft. However, today's doctrine of Unified Land Operations calls for Decisive Action.  Today's battlefield requires simultaneous offensive, defensive and stability operations.  It is inevitable that women will be casualties in war.  According to the Army Times, the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions mark the first wars in which women have been exposed to new military roles opened to them by the Clinton administration immediately after the Gulf War.

     On Oct. 1, 1994, women became eligible for jobs in combat aviation, aboard combat ships and in ground combat support.  Under President Obama in 2012, under his new policy, female officers and non-commissioned officers in the Army will be assigned to combat units below the brigade level. The change will open up about 14,000 new combat jobs for women in the military.  Furthermore, The Marine Corps school that trains infantry combat officers is now enrolling women.  Women desire the same opportunities.   In fact, the LA Times reports that two female soldiers are currently suing the Department of Defense and the Army to end policies prohibiting women from serving in more combat roles.

     In conclusion, I want my daughter to be treated equally under the law when she turns 18.  I want her to have the same opportunity that any male in this country is given and to register for the Selective Service System.  Women today are serving heroically in combat roles today and their roles are expanding.  No longer can the Supreme Court and law makers continue to allow gender bias when it comes to today's military.

LTC John A. Bojescul
ILE Student
2012

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     “The views expressed in this blog are those of

       the author and do not reflect the official policy or

       position of the Department of the Army, Department

       of Defense, or the U.S. Government.”