This almost seems like an oversight on the part of the Pentagon brass.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter declared a year ago that women should be able to serve in the combat arms of all military services.
But wait! They don’t yet have to register for the draft the way their male colleagues have to do.
The Marine Corps commandant and the Army chief of staff have testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that, yes, women should be required to register with Selective Service.
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a member of the panel, agreed.
So, didn’t they think of this earlier, when they were deliberating in the Pentagon about allowing women to serve in direct combat? Women now are able to serve in the infantry, armor and artillery branches — the three combat arms — of the armed forces.
However, if we’re going to extend full equality to both genders, then we need to go all the way.
We don’t have a draft any longer. It ended in the early 1970s during the last years of the Vietnam War. Despite having an all-volunteer military force, young men have had to register for Selective Service in case there would be a need to call them into military duty.
With women now joining men on the battlefield as soldiers and Marines, it’s time to sign them up, too.