I do not believe women will be drafted

Why? Because the religious right will not allow it. They never much liked the idea of women in the military in the first place, but they would squawk loudly if women were subject to a draft. For example, after the Jessica Lynch/Shoshanna Johnson/Lori Piestawa incident the fundies screamed loudly about women in the armed forces.
They contended that war was no place for women. Interestingly enough, it's the feminist organizations that are more supportive of drafting women if their must be a draft (though they do not favor drafting anyone)

Anyway, these people in the religious right are people that Bush listens to and if Falwell, Bauer, Sheldon, Robertson, Schlessinger and Dobson say "No draft for women, Mr. President", then that's what you can expect. Thus the chances of men being drafted will increase accordingly.

Women do not have constitutionally protected equal rights based on gender. Therefore it would be legal to exempt women from the draft.

(Not right---but legal)

No ERA, no draft for women. I remember this argument against the ERA like it was yesterday. Funny thing is, young women (young feminists) think they should be drafted if the guys are.

They should be glad they have a choice.
I would make myself an unworthy candidate if I were drafted.
I would say I was gay but that would turn most of the men on, lol.
I am female.

since so many of them have declined to volunteer....

I was polite when I told him that I was pretty sure that she wasn't interested in joining the Army, and that she is very happily in school right now. I went on to say that I hoped that there would still be student deferments when she was drafted, and I was firmly told that this would never happen, that women weren't even being told to register.

I told him that I had heard otherwise, and thanked him for his time and service. (Even if he is a rabid right wingnut, the Army is still likely be the best living the guy could do, so I didn't want to discourage him too badly)

Course, seeing as they ignore seperation of church and state why not...

They can draft me all they want, I'm going nowhere cept maybe Canada.
I almost volountarily joined the army a few years ago, before I was remotely political & the whole Iraq mess. I'm very glad I didn't, I didn't realize how insane the government can be when run by a nutcase.

Two bloody scenarions.

1.- You are right and a boy or two will sue the federal government... over this (piece of trivia, there is somewhat of a precedent that occurred during Vietnam, and no it is NOT well known... but three kids avoided serving in Nam THAT WAY)

2.- You truly think they care? THey are the most cynical group of people when it comes to Christianity and how they are cynically using it

My fundie relative used this very reasoning for why the ERA should not be passed in the 1980's. He said if the ERA is passed, women will have to fight in battles on the front lines. I'm sure he had other reasons for not supporting the ERA-but he used this one because he knew it was the most "concerning" to people!

when Jenna and Barbara are in uniform, M-16s in hand, riding in an unarmored humvee with me.

Since that will never happen, though, I'm not goin'!

especially poor women.

because they have special health related or computer skills. But basically I agree that the religious right would come unhinged in women were drafted en masse.

Of course my daughters have all said that before they'd get drafted, they just get pregnant -- now I KNOW they won't draft pregnant women.

My younger daughter got the calls from the military recruiter when she was 18 and a Senior in HS. It is the law under that act that ALL Juniors and Seniors names, telephone numbers and addresses MUST be given to the military for recruitment. If the student is UNDER 18, a parent can sign a Do Not Call list. My daughter was 18 and there was nothing we could do about it. When they called, she told him no. He would NOT take NO for an answer, because as he told her, "We are not meeting our quotas." LOL This was THREE YEARS AGO. He kept calling her over and over and over. I finally told her to get NASTY and tell him to blanky, blank. They don't care whether it is a young man or a young woman when you are talking about QUOTAS being met.

However, I do think some of the posters have a point. The Fundies won't stand for women being drafted. Goes against their grand plan for women to be uneducated, married and pregnant. Go on any so called Christian Family Organization Website and you can read about their views.

I hate when the recruiters call for me, they just won't let me off the phone, and one time an Army recruiter was like, 'well don't you love your country?' then another time a Marine recruiter called and just wanted to ask some questions, so I was answering them, and he's like, have you ever tried any drugs (and at the time I was thinking to myself, 'does weed really count?) and he's like, 'and marijuana counts' so I told him I had and he asks the last time I had, so I told him a week ago, and it seemed like he didn't want to talk to me anymore after that

The day I get a draft registration form, I buy a minivan and I set about the work of filling the thing up. If money becomes an issue I'll be a surrogate.

Pregnancy would be a fairly easy way to delay while I arranged for CO status or a lengthy European vacation.

Then the baby would have a mother in uniform on the other side of the planet. Being a mother doesn't cut you much slack any more in the Army.

It will never happen. Our professional military is by far the finest the world has ever seen. There is no way that conscripts could do any where near the job our finest do. The only people that support a draft are those that know that a draft would make it politically impossible to ever go to war again.

you might consider reading Col. David Hackworth's column of 12/6 at www.hackworth.com. The good Colonel has more contacts in the military, both active and retired,enlisted and officers, than Don Rumsfeld or, I'm guessing, you. He seems to feel that with those that inform him saying that recruitment goals are at only about 50%, there is a good chance of a draft.

Also...the medical worker draft includes wimmen already.

http://www.sss.gov/FSwomen.htm

At President Clinton's request, the Department of Defense reviewed this issue in 1994. DoD noted that America's prior drafts were used to supply adequate numbers of Army ground combat troops. Because women are excluded by policy from front line combat positions, excluding them from the draft process remains justifiable in DoD's view. Although no conclusions were reached, DoD recognized that policies regarding women need to be reviewed periodically because the role of women in the military continues to expand.

The Selective Service System, if given the mission and additional funding, is capable of registering and drafting women with its existing infrastructure.

Other interesting items are on that site, including CO status and the marriage/paternity issue in terms of drafting men.

Haele

If they refuse to go.... America ain't got that many jails.

Temporary holding facilities serving as prisons.

In Maricopa County, AZ, a decade ago, the newly elected sheriff decided to move some 1000 prisoners out of the over-crowded jail and into Korean war era, military surplus tents in the desert. It's been a nightmare that is nearly impossible to stop, thanks to the sheriff's obscene publicity stunts and supposed cost-cutting measures. (They serve food that is unfit for consumption, have minimal power and water available, and use the prisoners - many of whom are not even convicted of a crime, but merely too poor to make bail - for free, forced labor on chain gangs.) However, his human rights abuses, up to and including negligent homicide, and the resulting court cases, have cost the county far more than he's ever saved.

(For full reporting, please see: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/special_reports/arpaio/index.html)

Guantanamo is approximately the same: chain link holding pens fashioned out of corrugated sheet steel and dog pens on a concrete pad.

The DoD has mobile brig pods that fit neatly on the back of a flatbed rail car, four to a car.

And Riker's Island is now using a pre-cast, stackable concrete system that includes all pipes and electric lines and fixtures to build prison cells. That's convertible to draft dodgers. They can always resurrect the Japanese Internment camps as well. Most of them were in the desert or dry climates; the ones here in Colorado are nasty, but still serviceable. The ones in the Mohave desert are in better shape.

If Wackenhut and the others can make money off of it, there will be enough prisons. At a worst case scenario, they'll start taking over high schools or summer camps. And the Murkin sheeple will love it, getting tough on those long-hair, sneering intellectuals.

(I've thought a lot about this, since I'm medical, and likely to be included in a special skills draft. I won't go overseas. I will go to prison.)

Pcat

if women ever are drafted it will be mostly because of women's rights groups who support it in the name of "equality" rather than because of support for the draft itself.

of course if we ever reach this point people will actually start paying attention and be more opposed to war than is the case now . so even with a law that calls for women to be drafted during war, the war itself will end before it can happen.