The Washington Post reports: “A pair of Republican congressmen who have criticized the military’s decision to open all combat roles to women are now leading the charge to have women register for the draft.”
Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a former Marine, and Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a former Navy SEAL, introduced legislation on Thursday to compel young women to register for the Selective Service, the agency responsible for implementing a draft.
For Hunter and Zinke, the bill does not mark a change of heart, but serves as a way to make a point.
Yesterday, after the Army chief of staff and the Marine Corps commandant testified in a Senate hearing that women should register for the draft, the editors of National Review wrote, “registering with the Selective Service is an annoying act of bureaucratic box-checking. It hardly awakens the patriot in American young people. Indeed, the idea of female draft registration is so bad that one wonders if the service chiefs aren’t engaged in a bit of public trolling.”
It appears the Representatives Hunter and Zinke are engaging in a similar ploy; Hunter has told Politico that opening combat positions to women is “going to get people killed.”
While I am wary of this specific tactic — the worst possible outcome would be for the bill to somehow pass (admittedly a far-fetched scenario) — Hunter and Zinke should be commended for drawing attention to the Obama administration’s misguided, politically correct decision to open combat units to women.
As the editors wrote:
For the time being, … it’s incumbent on conservatives to do what they can to preserve military effectiveness and cultural common sense. The next defense secretary should immediately reverse the Obama administration’s social engineering. Mixed-gender combat units harm American national security, and conservatives must vigorously oppose any effort to normalize their existence. Draft registration should remain for men only.
Representative Hunter is right: Mixed-gender combat units are “going to get people killed.”
Read the full National Review editorial here.