Even voluntary military service can be a form of indentured servitude. After the end of the Vietnam conflict, when I had served 8 years as an Air Force officer, I decided I would leave the service, and had several job offers. Even though many around me were losing their positions from the ongoing reduction in force, I was informed that because I was in a critical job classification, I could not leave the service. The justification at the time was that as a Reserve officer, I served "at the pleasure of the President," and without a release from the White House I was obligated to stay.

The strange adventure continued, as I was thwarted at every attempt to attend professional officer schools, which should have spelled the end of my career, since without those I shouldn't have been promotable to Major. As I prepared to end my service at 12 years, I was suddenly given a regular commission and promoted to Major, again because I was a "critical resource." I was obligated to stay to 20, but departed as a Lt Col before they could find another reason to keep me.

There's a lesson in that story about volunteering, and how it can put your fate in the hands of bureaucrats.

'Til you run out of drones. ;)

China's military strategy is all about overwhelming brute force. Unless those drones are dropping nukes, it's pretty hard to stop an army of their size short of a similar overwhelming brute force or nukes. (http://www.globalfirepower.com/countr...)

And we should also mention Iran's recent hack of a drone to take it over mid-flight.

To me, drones are an interesting idea for use in surgical strikes against unsophisticated enemies. Beyond that ...

There should be no draft. But the issue is since there is registration for the draft in case the political class can't get enough suckers to volunteer, should females have to register. Yes. Actually, hell yes. Equality reigns.

Thanks for the /Sarcasm tag. Thought you might be boarding the "being offended" bus to hell on Earth.

Of course the draft is involuntary servitude and violates the rights of all who fall under it throughout all of history regardless of gender. Note that not a single Republican (the supposed champions of limited government) called for an end to the shameful draft during the recent debate where this question was raised. Please don't waste your vote supporting any of those would be slave masters.

Mostly, who it opens up the field for is 'people over 60'. Drone pilots should be open to people of all ages, and it would be kinda neat to see the military having to deal with bright and capable octogenarians who have had a lifetime of experience sorting out BS from reality...

Jan

When I am on a shuttle bus to/from the airport, I find that I am often the one to stand up and give my seat to a pregnant woman or someone walking with a cane. If there are so few gentlemen left, then we ladies have to step in.

Jan, "Lady" does not = "weak"

I think I needed a /Sarcasm there. I am not really offended by the article. The only thing I see in it is we should not have a draft anyway.

Bottom line to me:

1) To big a deal is made out of gender. Have requirements for a job, and then anyone who meets the requirements can do the job, but no different requirements based on gender or race or anything else. Just whatever the requirements are, the same for everyone.

2) No Draft. Ever, not needed if the cause is just and a Draft just says we are the property of the government anyway which we are not.

You're right: You would have...for the first few times you went into combat with a mixed gender team.

Once, when I (veteran fighter) was trying to coax a male opponent (newbie) into giving me a good fight at a practice down at Mile Square Park, he stopped and said, "I just can't get used to the idea of hitting a woman. I was raised to protect them!" A high-prestige, high ranked male fighter wandered over to us, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry: You'll get over it." and strolled off. My opponent's jaw dropped. We squared off against each other again and I threw a few really hard blows right into his shield, and then came at him vigorously. He 'forgot' he was fighting a woman and pushed back and we had some good fights. From then on, whenever I fought him we had good hard competitive fights.

So yes - you are a nice guy and you would initially react to protect the women (who would all be new to combat to boot). But after they had gotten some battlefield experience and you had saved each other's butts a few times in action they would have been 'part of the team'.

Jan

Should women be drafted? No--and that includes men.
Should women join the armed services? Yes, and they should be assigned whatever they can prove they can handle.
And that goes for guys.

The observation that boys and men are more aggressive does not mean they are natural killers. This is one of the many aspects of 'mens liberation' that I agree with. Boys and men should be able to enjoy being competitive and aggressive without having that 'killer' label tied to them. Boys and men who do not feel that sense of competitiveness should be able to go "meh" and wander off in search of a computer or a book.

Women are learning that we 'may' be more assertive and aggressive as we are allowed to earn our own living and do not have to create our lives around finding a male solar breadwinner to revolve around. On the other hand, I would have made an excellent front line soldier - I personally have all the instincts for it - but that option was not permitted. That was stupid of the military.

Jan

opens up a new field for all persons, women/men/gays/straights/all races, etc. interesting. gamers would make good soldiers too if they were controlling robots

It should be a moot point, since military conscription is just a fancy word for slavery. The military should be voluntary and only voluntary, allowing persons of either gender, providing they meet mental and physical qualifications to enter as they would any other job.

I could write a screenplay called "Two Years A Slave."
But much more time is involved in sweating out a summons for a war in Vietnam that I did not believe was worth any American dying for.
As for the summons, Nixon provided a photo of his smiling face on a letter that began, "Congratulations! You have been inducted into the Armed Services."
The honorable discharge DOES look good on a resume, though.
It added 5 points to a test I had to pass to go to the Alabama DOC Academy in Selma for my career job.
Proof of military service was required by Wackenhut when I got into a money pinch after I retired. I'm fully retired now.

Interesting point: Drone warfare makes age and physical condition irrelevant to presence in combat. As long as you have good hand-eye and a knack for flying drones you can be on the front lines.

Jan

Retired U.S. military, Army Secretary John McHugh once said. "If your objective is true and pure equality then you have to look at all aspects."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/20...

Now, should their be a draft? I say "no" because we have the volunteer military but if there is a draft, and women are equal, "hell yes they should be in the draft!" Body-size aside, men can stay in the U.S. and conduct themselves just as women can. Awebb's comparison of women to small men is spot-on because young, small, and wimpy men with families were drafted just the same as larger, stronger, and single males.

they need more people in uniform and if the male population is declining what is left?

Trump would staff the military with people who could get the job done, whoever and whatever they were. Obama doesnt know what he is doing, period. Trump runs big business and HAS to pick the right people or it wouldnt work.

When the USA goes to war to defend itself, it should do so to WIN. In the case of fighting with an enemy, that means we kill them before they kill us. I would have no problem killing an enemy soldier at all. Call it politically incorrect, but if the enemy had a bomb and was going to kill me, I wouldnt care if it were a woman or a child even.

At this point in our nation's history, what are we fighting for anyway, the whims of an elite political class goaded on by the string-pulling top of the economic heap?

I really dont know if one can make the generalizations about men and women. I dont have the experience to really make those judgments- which is why I would hire someone who had experience with the workings of military engagements and let them hire the soldiers

We have decided women can serve in combat roles. Therefore they should be subject to exactly the same requirements as men, including registering for the draft. Having said that I am against the idea of mandated service as it is currently presented. If we want to make the argument that part of the "cost" of being a member of our society is federal service, I would be open to looking at that. In that case everyone would be required to serve. The current system is obviously rigged.

There is so much variation in "women" and "men" that its hard to generalize that women in general are better for a given task would be more effective than men.
There should just be acceptance criteria for the job at hand, and let the chips fall as they may.

As to military slavery, I think its immoral to have a draft, period. Not that I would be great as a foot soldier at my age, I can still pull a trigger or fly a drone if it came down to protecting myself or my family, and I wouldnt have a problem doing those things. If defense required the services of a big muscled young person, I would just have to find one and hire him.

The "Draft" serves only to negate our Right to Life, and more.

Hey, I've been watching 90-pound women beating the crap out of 200-pound men on TV for years. Apparently they're up to it. I say "You go, girl!"

Just wait and see what ISIS does to them on video.
Then people will wake up.