The Senate Armed Services committee last week introduced a version of the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual military funding bill known as NDAA, that would make women eligible for the draft.
"The Senate, out of the blue, has revived 'Draft Our Daughters' for no good reason, and they're doing so in a very peculiar way – because what people want to see happen is a restoration of meritocracy in the military, an end to discrimination, an end to diversity, equity and inclusion instructions that are divisive and demoralizing. We want an end to critical race theory instructions in the military." "There is a section in the House-passed Bill, Section 5-2-3, that would have the same effect as 'Draft Our Daughters' because it would include sex as a nondiscriminatory factor in DoD policies. So, if you cannot discriminate on the basis of sex, [rules on] Selective Service, women in combat, transgender policies – everything could be written into law." Elaine Donnelly, president |
It is still pending and has not reached the Senate floor for a full vote.
The issue of women in combat is not a new topic for Bob Maginnis, a national security analyst for the Family Research Council. Maginnis authored a 2013 book, "Deadly Consequences," about the Pentagon putting women in front-line combat roles.
Now that U.S. senators are debating women being drafted, Maginnis tells AFN it is up to Congress to stop that in the NDAA. He fears American wives and daughters will lose if the issue reaches the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices rule on equality in a military uniform.
"And that is, yes, women would have to be conscripted like young men at age 18," he says.
This potentially unprecedented path to military service for women hasn’t come in the name of equality.
It hasn’t even come in the name of confusion of the genders as has become Department of Defense policy within the Biden administration, said Tom Kilgannon, the president of Freedom Alliance, which has supported and assisted military personnel and veterans for years.
It comes because the U.S. is having trouble attracting volunteers.
“There’s no question about that,” Kilgannon told Washington Watch host Tony Perkins Thursday.
Pew Research Center data shows that only 23% of young people are qualified for military service, and a majority of Americans aged 18-29 have a negative view of the armed forces.
The Army and Navy both fell show of recruiting goals in 2022 then did so again in 2023. Across all branches the shortfall of recruits hit 41,000, government data shows.
The numbers have some questioning whether it’s time to reinstate required military service.
Why the recruitment struggles?
“In his first month as Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin committed what I think is one of the worst acts of malpractice that any Secretary of Defense has ever done when he claimed that the entirety of the Defense Department, all the military, were extremists,” Kilgannon said.
Days into his new role as Joe Biden’s top defense employee, Austin ordered all military commands to review and reinforce regulations barring extremist activity.
The move came after a number of military personnel joined the side of pro-Trump demonstrators at the Capitol on Jan. 6., 2021.
What about left-wing extremists in military?
The move set off a discussion as to how to define extremism. Might there be left-wing extremists in the military as well?
“That and many other provisions have kept young men and women from enlisting and signing up. These last few years have been the worst in recruitment for the all-volunteer force,” Kilgannon said.
It’s not only about not signing up. For many males, already required to register for Selective Service for the possibility of a draft, it’s about finding ways to dodge that requirement.
“You’ve got two main ways that Selective Service signs up young men. One is through the applications for driver's licenses at the state level, and over the last 25 years, young men have chosen not to get driver's licenses by a wide margin. The number of young men aged 16-19 who are getting driver's licenses has declined from 64% to 40% in the last 25 years,” Kilgannon said.
Many young men are also ignoring federal financial aid, another Selective Service registration mechanism, should they decide to attend college.
The Senate Armed Services Committee signed off on drafting daughters as a means to combat the recruiting woes, Kilgannon said.
House version: Automatic draft for all males
The House is using NDAA to address the numbers problem, too. Its version of the bill skips over driver’s licenses and federal forms and just signs up all males, no questions asked.
The move was led by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania) and passed through the House Armed Services Committee with a 57-1 vote.
“If these two provisions come together and stay in the bill until the final version what you would have is both young men and young women, 18-26 years old, automatically being registered with Selective Service,” Kilgannon said.
More shocking than young women being drafted is that they could potentially be drafted without even knowing it, Kilgannon said.
“They wouldn’t know about it because they have no history or tradition of doing this,” Kilgannon said. “Many of them wouldn’t even know they were signed up for the draft until they got a draft notice.”
Women need to understand what’s at stake
Kilgannon said female enlistment rates have remained somewhat steady for the last five years, but “woke” military policies have been another factor in the decreasing numbers for young males.
“You have the woke policies, the social indoctrination in the military, and it’s causing real problems. Now one of the things I want to make clear is that we’re all about voluntary service, but what young women need to understand is that this provision we’re talking about has nothing to do with them going down to the recruiter’s office and making an informed voluntary decision to serve their country,” Kilgannon said.
No, what the Senate committee proposes is not a request. Young ladies, who may not even be aware of their draft-eligible status, could be thrust into compulsory service in combat zones around the world.
“This is the federal government saying, ‘We’re going to require that you serve your country,” Kilgannon said. “If this goes through, they lose their voice, they lose their choice. Young women will no longer be vessels for new life. They will be instruments of war, and that’s not the way our society has typically adjudicated this issue.”
6/25/2024 - Sidebar added.
