I can get behind this. Women have a lot to offer the armed forces.
USA TODAY “Men who fail to register with the Selective Service System at their 18th birthday can be denied public benefits such as federal employment and student loans. Women cannot register for Selective Service”
Holy shit, that’s fucking immoral although similar to China’s punitive discipline of their marginalized citizens who fail to make payments on time.
I’m opposed to conscription entirely, but I agree that as long as it exists, it should exist for all able-bodied adults within the prescribed age bracket (18 to 25 IIRC).
That said, the draft should not exist.
I opposed conscription when I was 16, but it has been pointed out that the all-volunteer military has a distinctly more dusky hue than the population at large, and that sons of the wealthy do not volunteer. (On the other hand, they also don’t report when drafted.) I wonder if adding young women to the mix would within a generation build a military that is truly balanced from top to bottom.
i’d be for a mandatory year of service, either in the military or public service. we’ve been at war something like 90% of our history, and continuously now for over 15 years - but most people don’t have any connection to it all. so it rolls on.
A year of mandatory service I’d be fine with as long as opting out of military service, no questions asked, were an option. Military conscription is immoral.
Later in life Heinlein tried to walk back his Federation in Starship Troopers by claiming citizenship could be earned through civil service. Textual analysis shows he was contradicting his own novel, though I don’t think intentionally (it had been decades and he wrote a lot of books). But fans of that model latched onto that dubious caveat for dear life. (I’m a fan of the book, not the model of government is presents.)
more legal history
I think mandatory service may have some benefits to a lot of different areas. Income inequality, GDP, politics. Although, as a teenager, I sure would have hated it.
The problem being that there have always been methods for the well off to opt out or avoid such service. The people writing such laws never bother to include themselves into the group affected
I’d prefer killing myself to being forced to serve in the military.
Hows about as a traveling trail steward in a national park ?
Hows about photo documenting roadside attractions ?
I mean … nationals service could mean lots of cool shit.
That would be wonderful 
We The People made that happen once.
The armed forces includes things like the Coast Guard, just FYI.
And a mandatory service program needn’t even be limited to armed forces.
Judge Miller was a George W. Bush nominee. Any thoughts on what Trump will/will not do with that?
I wouldn’t mind a mandatory civil service program where I wouldn’t be forced to do things against my conscience and wouldn’t be hurt/abused. I’m just strongly against military, to the point that at work I refuse to participate in any projects that would be used mainly for offensive purposes (for example my work colleagues work on developing sufrace-to-air missiles). I also run a CNC machining company, and while sometimes we machine molds for UAVs (drones), I refuse any orders for UAVs having a military application.
Thank you.
