Army Secretary Says Women May Have To Register For Draft In Name Of Equality

Army Secretary John M. McHugh, left, and Army Chief of Staff Gen Raymond Odierno update members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the deadly shooting rampage by a soldier yesterday at Fort Hood in Texas, T... Army Secretary John M. McHugh, left, and Army Chief of Staff Gen Raymond Odierno update members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the deadly shooting rampage by a soldier yesterday at Fort Hood in Texas, Thursday, April 3, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. An Iraq War veteran being treated for mental illness was the gunman who opened fire at Fort Hood, killing three people and wounding 16 others before committing suicide, in an attack on the same Texas military base where more than a dozen people were slain in 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS

Army Secretary John McHugh said Monday women will find themselves registering for the draft like their male counterparts if the military hopes to reach “true and pure equality.”

“If your objective is true and pure equality then you have to look at all aspects” of women in the military, McHugh said, according to a report from Military.com.

This includes selective service, he said at Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington, D.C.

McHugh also said selective service will be decided by Congress, and he expects a “pretty emotional debate and discussion.”

“If we find ourselves as a military writ large where men and women have equal opportunity, as I believe we should,” McHugh said.

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  1. I will not worry until we all have to use one common restroom. Maybe not even then.

  2. Avatar for meri meri says:

    Is there a good reason for women to be exempted from the draft?

  3. I have no problem with women having to register for the draft. In fact, if we had a draft, I think politicians would be FAR less likely to go to war.

  4. Avatar for imkmu3 imkmu3 says:

    No. Then again, there will never again be a draft–and I mean never. If we get to that point in a war, we’d already be so fucked that more troops won’t matter in the outcome.

  5. Because it doesn’t make sense to kill all the young men AND the only vehicle to repopulating. Seriously. If you kill a lot of enlisted and the women who give birth, it’s a population issue.

    Edit: Apparently it wasn’t clear that this post was in reference to historical policy and not advocating a position. It never occurred to me that the existence of this policy when draft inclusion was decided was not obvious.

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