by Ted Sherman

Created on: February 09, 2010

Why should young American women be forced to participate in a wartime draft? Applying the word forced to serving one's country has to be a totally inappropriate description, if not a downright insulting one. If there is to be another draft, the description should be that young women of comparable ages as men should be required to register for a nationwide draft. Then, if and when they are needed, they should be called up to serve where and when they'd be needed.

Their task would be to fight side by side with young men to pursue a successful conclusion to the conflict. After striving for equality for more than a century, American women today have proven they can be at least equal to men in most professions and trades. They can be just as effective while serving in the military in any role required of them.

Those women who've served voluntarily in all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces since World War II have been exceptional examples of how determined and ambitious young women can accept any challenge and successfully perform whatever duties are necessary. If the United States were to be threatened once again with imminent danger as it was after the Japanese Pearl Harbor attack in WWII, it's highly probable that another draft would be implemented. In such a critical situation and considering their past willingness to serve, there would be very few young American women who'd object to registering for a draft and be ready when called by Uncle Sam.

Another factor that would require women to participate in a future military draft is that war situations are no longer dominated by infantrymen attacking enemy positions across no-man's-land. As our military has demonstrated in today's conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, our soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines are just as likely to be working with highly-sophisticated weaponry and other advanced electronics, than in traditional ground operations. In some situations, almost all combat efforts actually originate and are completed in computer rooms, on ships and in the air, far removed from any traditional battlefield of previous wars.

Most American women wouldn't need to be forced to serve if an enemy attack on their country required that a selective service draft be implemented. As they have for generations, they would come forward to join with their nation's young men compatriots and willingly serve whenever and wherever they would be needed to defend their country.

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