Dear John,
I’m sure you know that a crucial election is before us, but our team is already looking ahead to an absolutely critical “lame duck" session of Congress after November 8th, when accountability to voters is at its lowest and a lot of mischief often sneaks through our legislature.
One of our priorities is to prevent Congress from drafting our daughters into military service, which came dangerously close to passing last year. Congress is currently negotiating the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in preparation for a vote and the Senate version currently requires women to register with the Selective Service for the draft. After serving our country for more than three decades, this is something I know a little bit about.
While many women voluntarily serve in our armed forces honorably and with great distinction, there is no military need to draft women at random from the general population ahead of able-bodied men to serve, mostly in combat roles, during a time of war.
You helped successfully defeat this provision last year, and I am asking you to do so again. Would you take a moment right now and ask your senators, as well as Delegate Norton to oppose drafting our daughters?
It is unnecessary! If needed, we could more than double the size of our armed forces to 5 million servicemembers, for example, by only requiring 2.5% of the male population to serve.
It is dangerous! There are natural, physical differences between men and women, and studies show that combat roles (in which most draftees serve) are considerably more dangerous for women. The draft is random, and the process for ensuring fitness is not as stringent, leaving the system unable to adequately ensure that physically more-capable men are drafted before women are conscripted.
It would be detrimental to our military readiness, lethality, and unit cohesion! Studies show that sex-related physical differences negatively affected co-ed units’ speed and effectiveness. Furthermore, having female servicemembers in combat units would require the military to provide certain accommodations that are otherwise unnecessary. Co-ed units would either require special privacy concerns to be accommodated in the harshest of circumstances or sacrifice the privacy needs of all servicemembers. These considerations would hinder the singular focus that is needed on the battlefield to defeat the enemy.
We must ensure the safety of our female service members and the lethality and readiness of our military! This is something that is close to my heart, and I ask that you join me in this battle. Please weigh in now and ask your senators and Delegate Norton to say “No” to drafting our daughters.
For America,
