Generals say women should have to register for draft
Marine Gen. Robert Neller and Army Gen. Mark Milley testified there should no longer be an exemption for women in the Selective Service program, while Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the opening of combat roles has raised the need for a national debate.
The top U.S. Marine Corps and Army generals said on Tuesday that women should be required to register for the military draft, along with men, as the armed forces move toward integrating them fully into combat positions.
McCaskill said opening up the draft to women might encourage more women to consider a military career.
Selective Service, otherwise known as the draft, now requires all men from age 18 to 26 to sign up for military service in the event the nation needs more manpower to mount a defense. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the Washington Post reported.
“Now that the restrictions that exempted women from [combat jobs] don’t exist, then you’re a citizen of a United States”, Gen. Neller told Sen.
“Part of me believes that asking women to register as we ask men to register would maybe possibly open up more recruits as women begin to think about well the military is an option for me”, she said.
The Selective Service System has existed for decades, and was created to make sure the military has enough manpower when it is short-handed in a time of war.
The sometimes contentious hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee laid bare the deep reluctance of Marine Corps leaders to bring women into certain demanding infantry, armor and special operations jobs. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Some Republican critics of the plan have said they fear it would lead to the imposition of quotas mandating a specific number of women in some units, such as Marines in positions that might require hand-to-hand combat.
“We have to be successful on the battlefield”, he added, and said he was “confident we will be in the future”.
The senator questioned the timeline of the military’s decision to open combat positions, saying it was made before the consequences were thoroughly studied.
The Marines sought the exception based upon the performance of integrated units versus all-male units in a study conducted at the Marine Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C. The all-male units performed at a higher level than integrated units in 69 percent of the 134 tasks evaluated, Neller told the panel.
Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, estimated that full integration of women would take “no less than one to three years of deliberate effort”.