In a recent GOP presidential debate, candidates were asked about whether or not "young women [should] be required to sign up for selective service in case of a national emergency." Of the candidates who were asked, none seemed to have a problem with requiring America's young women to register for the draft.

We haven't had a draft in over 40 years, so it's not difficult to see how some may not think this is an important issue. But this issue is extremely important -- both to the readiness of our military forces and to the future fabric of our country.

For years, women have served in the U.S. military honorably and with distinction. That fact is indisputable. But these women have served on a voluntary basis -- the choice to serve was theirs alone. Requiring women to register for the draft is to forcibly put our daughters in harm's way against their will.

Everyone in the military knows that once in, you don't get to choose where you will end up serving. As the current administration has made abundantly clear, the U.S. military is now operating as a testing ground for social change -- at the expense of military readiness. As combat infantry and Special Forces specialties are opened to women, it only follows that if a draft should occur, conscripted women would inevitably be placed in units where the mission is to find and engage the enemy, ... (more)