Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), meeting behind closed doors, recently pulled “Draft Our Daughters” out of the legislative dustbin.
SASC Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., “sweetened” this year’s version with a trade-off deal purporting to exempt female draftees from being “compelled to join combat roles that were closed to women prior to December 3, 2015.”
The defense bill would automatically register all persons of draft age (18-26) who are subject to Selective Service law, extending government power into the lives of every young person in America while weakening military readiness.
The “combat carve-out” ploy was a false promise that should have fooled no one, but the measure passed on a 16-9 bipartisan vote.
Why a Combat Carve-Out for Women Is Not Credible
If the Senate wanted to exempt women from direct ground combat, they should have done so across the board, instead of approving a ruse involving Selective Service registration.
Direct ground combat units, such as the infantry, armor, and special operations, attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action. The “Draft Our Daughters” legislation mentions the 2015 date when then-Defense Secretary Ashton Carter denied Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford’s formal request that these specialties and units remain all-male.
The former commandant backed his request with three years of scientific research. According to a summary of field tests, fighting teams composed of average-ability men outperformed mixed-sex units with highly qualified women in 69 percent of evaluated tasks, including hiking under load and typical combat maneuvers.
The research also
