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Friday, September 22, 2023 | 
U.S. & World

Why these veterans in Congress think women should register for a military draft

Only men are required to register for the Selective Service System, but House and Senate committees have approved expanding the draft to women

By Jeff Parrott Jeff Parrott
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Female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train in Fort Campbell, Ky.

Female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train on a firing range while testing new body armor in Fort Campbell, Ky., on Sept. 18, 2012. A female U.S. Air Force veteran on the House Armed Service Committee is leading the way to require women to register for a future military draft.

Mark Humphrey, Associated Press

A female U.S. Air Force veteran on the House Armed Service Committee is leading the way to require women to register for a future military draft.

On Wednesday evening, the committee voted 35-24 to approve Rep. Chrissy Houlahan’s, D-Pa., amendment to the 2022 defense budget that would reform the Selective Service System by changing the term “male citizen” to “citizen,” The Hill reported.

  • “It’s past time,” Houlahan told members of the committee. “Women make up over 50% of our population and not including them in the Selective Service is not only a disservice to these women, but to our nation as a whole.
  • “Simply put, as the Selective Service System is currently written, it is unconstitutional and discriminates based on sex,” the former Air Force officer added.

Florida Republican and U.S. Army Green Beret Rep. Mike Waltz, and a few other members of the GOP, also supported the amendment.

  • “If it’s so grave that we have to go to a draft, we need everybody,” said Waltz, who is also a colonel in the National Guard, reported Politico. “We need man, woman, gay, straight, any religion, Black, white, brown. We need everybody, all hands on deck.”
  • Republican Reps. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, Jack Bergman, of Michigan and Patrick Fallon, of Texas, also voted for the amendment to expand the Selective Service, The Hill reported.

The Senate Armed Service Committee has already passed its own version of Selective Service expansion, and if both survive floor votes, it would likely end up in the Oval Office for President Joe Biden’s signature into law, according to Politico.

Women are already serving in combat arms roles

Women who have volunteered to join the military are already serving in combat arms roles, and during the global war on terror — where there is has been no clear front line — have been participating in combat for years.

  • Early this summer, the U.S. Navy announced the first woman to graduate from its Naval Special Warfare training pipeline.
  • In 2015, 1st Lt. Shaye L. Haver and Capt. Kristen M. Griest became the first two women to finish the Army’s grueling Ranger School.
  • Marina A. Hierl, who was a captain at the time, became the first woman to become an U.S. Marine Corp infantry officer in 2017.