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Government

Blaze Poll: Do Women Belong in Combat and Should They Be Required to Register for the Draft?

Jan. 27, 2013 9:00pm Mike Opelka

Editor’s Note: Women in combat will be explored in more detail on Tuesday’s Wilkow! which airs at 7 pm ET on TheBlaze TV.

Last week we learned that outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was lifting the U.S. military’s ban on women in combat. That news brought support from a host of newspapers. The possibility of women joining the combat ranks on the front lines also raised questions from some members of military, and media icons like George Will.

The issue of women in combat also brings another question into the conversation about women in the military. What about registering females for the draft? The current law of the land requires only males to register with the Selective Service System (SSS). This is supposed to happen within 30 days of young man turning 18.

If women belong in combat, should they also have to register for the draft?

Image sss.gov

The official language from the agency’s web page lays it out in some rather specific terms:

If you are a man ages 18 through 25 and living in the U.S., then you must register with Selective Service. It’s the law. According to law, a man must register with Selective Service within 30 days of his 18th birthday. Selective Service will accept late registrations but not after a man has reached age 26.

Image: sss.gov

The agency has also been trying to get the message out to 18 year old men for years. Witness this peppy PSA from 1985. It features a singing and break-dancing group encouraging a pal to get down to the post office and sign up.

22 years later, SSS enlisted a popular actor – R. Lee Ermey to recreate his “Sgt. Gunney” character for this public service announcement.

Ads like these and others combined with a non-stop campaign in high schools and post offices has generated a pool of more than 15 million men who have enlisted for Selective Service. Of course, there are some exceptions to the mandatory registration requirement. Men who are disabled, in hospitals, prisons, and a few other situations are exempt.

Yet, the question remains: Why are women given a blanket exclusion from Selective Service registration? The answer is addressed by the agency:

Selective Service law as it’s written now refers specifically to “male persons” in stating who must register and who would be drafted. For women to be required to register with Selective Service, Congress would have to amend the law.

While Congress has not seen fit to change the law, it has come under scrutiny by the courts. In 1981, the constitutionality of the gender bias was upheld by the Supreme Court in Rostker v. Goldberg. The decision had its roots in the history of the draft’s purpose. The initial reason for drafting American males back in1 948 (when the draft was initiated) was to provide an ample supply of soldiers for combat situations. Since women were not allowed in combat roles, this precluded them from the draft.

The Supreme Court cited the combat exclusion rule in their 1981 decision:

And since women are excluded from combat service by statute or military policy, men and women are simply not similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft, and Congress’ decision to authorize the registration of only men therefore does not violate the Due Process Clause.

The male-only requirement came up again in 1994, during the Clinton administration. Congress repealed the combat exclusion for women, and the President asked the Defense Department to consider changing the Selective Service registration requirements. And yet, nothing has changed in terms of the men-only requirement for Selective Service registration.

Not registering can have serious consequences. Again, we reference the information from the SSS website:

Registration is the law. A man who fails to register may, if prosecuted and convicted, face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years.

In addition to the possible criminal charges and penalties, not registering can render you ineligible for:

federal student loans and grant programs
federal job training under the Workforce Investment Act
federal jobs or security clearance as a contractor
U.S. citizenship

If you are not certain that you registered, there is a place on the SSS’s website where you can check by entering your last name, social security number, and date of birth.

How do you feel about allowing women to fight on the front lines? Take our Blaze Poll on the subject of women in combat and the draft. You can also submit a question of your own on these topics.

Women In Combat / Draft?

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Comments (359)

ScottG-CO
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:57pm
Women in combat———– NO WAY.

Women registered for the draft————–ABSOLUTELY.

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carl_in_ohio
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:54pm
unless people speak out – you get the type of government you elect.

so yes, IF we want women in combat, make selective service for ALL women mandatory. Teen mom, unemployed women, women on welfare, EVERYONE. its about being treated EQUAL, correct?

Also, the military fitness test will need to be standardized. Some types of exercises and requirements.

Plus, equal chances for EVERYONE and ANYONE to go to the INFANTRY and carry a rifle in AFGHANISTAN.

Troop transports have limited room, so SAME BERTHING area, SAME SHOWER area, SAME LATRINE area.

EQUAL means EQUAL, right? If women want the collective right to bleed on the front lines, then we treat them as equals. MEN can be pulled off combat IF their wives have a baby, right?
Can both parents go into combat? Can the dad stay home while mom goes to combat?

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Kupo
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:49pm
As long as a particular woman is able to keep up to the physical standards required of the men then I no problem with them serving in combat. Regarding the selective service, I don’t think that anyone should be required to register. That said, if men are required to then women also should be required to.

Universal male sufferage in this country was originally passed because it was decided that anyone who the government can call upon to fight should have a say in how that government is run. Women were not given the right to vote largely because they were not expected to die for their country. In fact, the 26th Amendment was passed because men who fought in Vietnam were coming home with limbs blown off who were still not old enough to vote.

Women have successfully claimed all of the rights with comparatively little of the adjunct responsibility. Ladies, if you want to be able to vote then you should also be required to register for selective service. Either that or men should not be required to register either.

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Ragnars Repos
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:46pm
“DO WOMEN BELONG IN COMBAT AND SHOULD THEY BE REQUIRED TO REGISTER FOR THE DRAFT?”

Women shouldn’t have to register for something so utterly evil as the draft–and neither should men.

Only a anti-life, anti-human tyrant, or Conservative, could advocate for the draft.

Conservatives just don’t get it.

Conservatives are helping the collectivists destroy America, but they’ll never open their eyes to see it.

“The most immoral contradiction—in the chaos of today’s anti-ideological groups—is that of the so-called “conservatives,” who posture as defenders of individual rights, particularly property rights, but uphold and advocate the draft. By what infernal evasion can they hope to justify the proposition that creatures who have no right to life, have the right to a bank account?” ~Ayn Rand

And Conservatives wonder why things are going to hell. They are nothing like the founders they talk about constantly.

Ponder their beloved “social safety net” for a moment and you’ll see they are nothing but socialists/statists/collectivists in denial.

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- mewnani
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:55pm
  I don’t like the idea of a draft unless we absolutely need it. Since we have one now, I hate that and wish it would be abolished. After all we’re not in a war where a draft is required; why do we need to sign up for the draft?! <- American
  
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- RationalMan
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:57pm
  RAG,
  
  Bingo!!!!
  
  Well said!!!
  
  Report this comment
- mewnani
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:05pm
  In all fairness not all conservatives believe that we need a draft in peacetime. I’m a conservative and I just hate the idea. It depends on the person you talk to, not their ideology.
  
  Report this comment
- RationalMan
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:19pm
  Mew,
  Are you really a “Conservative”?
  
  If you can think on your own, then you’re a independent and a not a follower to any group!
  
  Report this comment
- skunkbear
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:28pm
  Mewnani, “I don’t like the idea of a draft unless we absolutely need it. Since we have one now, I hate that and wish it would be abolished.”
  
  Um, there is not currently a draft…. But there is a registration for the draft for male amerikans only…
  
  Unless/until the Bush girls and the Obama girls are all drafted into the combat forces for service to the banksters there will be no equality in amerika…
  
  Report this comment
- Ragnars Repos
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:50pm
  “In all fairness not all conservatives believe that we need a draft in peacetime.”
  
  Only a Conservative could use the term “fairness” in a sentence while trying to defend the draft.
  
  At war…peacetime…Do I exist for my own sake, or do I exist for Conservatives and other brands of tyrants to use as meat any time they wish?
  
  This is why the church is tax exempt. It pumps out the half-conscious conservative tax-mule/soldier drone by the millions.
  
  Report this comment
Exeter5
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:46pm
There it goes we can no longer call an A.L.I.C.E. Pack (All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment Pack) an Alice Pack. Gender neutrality is getting worse. Now the highest standards for the best in service have to be lowered. Shameful.

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freedomnetworker
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:46pm
I have always found it funny that those who want equal rights soon revert back to the way it was for there own gains and desires. Equal means equal whether it be racial or sex. Affirmative action needs to go by the waist-side. equal is equal. If you do not want to be equal all the way around then quit your complaining. I have no problems with race or sex of any type feel free to be equal but do not ask for special privileges at the same time.

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mewnani
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:44pm
I see a very major problem with women applying for the draft. When the draft is called, normally women take the men’s place in the workforce while the men are at war. If a draft is called and both men and women are called to serve WHO WILL BE DOING THE JOBS LEFT EMPTY BY SOLDIERS AT WAR?

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- skunkbear
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:31pm
  Your thinking is 50 years outdated. Womyn have already filled these jobs.
  
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Ishmot2
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:41pm
First off where is the poll? Can anyone imagine what the Taliban will do to these girls if they are caught and taken prisoners? I’d like to take the poll.

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ellietoo
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:38pm
Does anyone even realize the kind of conditions military people live under when in a combat zone? It’s not like boot camp. They don’t go home to flush toilets and shower when on a patrol. They live in a ditch with bullets going over their heads a good deal of the time. Where are these women going to go to the bathroom out in the field with a bunch of male soldiers? What happens when they are attacked at the wrong time of the month? Do they bring a place for them to change their female hygiene products? These are ignorant leftest women’s groups pushing for these kinds of changes. People who have never been in a combat zone and never will be! Women are not men and have many physical needs that men do not have. This will further endanger our military as well as the country as a whole.

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- mewnani
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:52pm
  Women are also smaller in stature and lighter, meaning it will be a lot harder for them to perform capably on the field. I myself can’t even hit 100 pounds; how am I supposed to carry 80 pounds worth of gear and a wounded soldier? Most women just aren’t cut out to be soldiers.
  
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Tigress1
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:38pm
Just because there are a few women who want to be in the military, and even fewer yet who want to be in combat, doesn’t mean that ALL women should be required to register for the draft. Most women have not been raised to be fighters, and they would be unable to deal with the regimens of military life. Also, if you think we have a problem now with unwed mothers, there would probably be a sudden expansion of this problem just to avoid the military. Not a good idea.

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- skunkbear
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:46pm
  “Just because there are a few women who want to be in the military, and even fewer yet who want to be in combat, doesn’t mean that ALL women should be required to register for the draft.”
  
  But there are many men who do not want to be in combat for the banksters yet are ALL required to register for the draft.
  
  There is either equality or there is not. You do believe in equality don’t you? Equality is the ultimate virtue…
  
  Report this comment
RationalMan
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:36pm
Well, since 1-3% think women can handle the outcome in the battlefield, don’t expect me to protect your a$$ either!!! (I have a family to raise at home!!!)

As for the draft, Who am I protecting or “Sacrificing” for whom? Politicians or is it for America best interest?

F*** Y**. on your draft!!!

For “America” best interest a “Volunteer army” is the only way to go!!!

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piplovestheUSA
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:30pm
The number of women wanting to be in a combat role is very very small. However, in the name of equal rights they will all have to register for the draft and then dear leader can call on them for whatever he desires. My daughter is in the JROTC program at high school and is planning to sign up for duty soon. They are telling me they can keep her out of harms way for all but one year of her service for the first few years of her enlistment. She is going to be a doctor. Bad move these days but what can I do.

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- skunkbear
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 11:56pm
  “They are telling me they can keep her out of harms way for all but one year of her service for the first few years of her enlistment. She is going to be a doctor. Bad move these days but what can I do.”
  
  Um, you could be a Man, a Father, a freaking thinking human being and teach your daughter to not sacrifice her beautiful life for the banksters who start and finance these wars of Mammon!
  
  She is your daughter! What in the world are you sacrificing her for?!
  
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- piplovestheUSA
  Posted on January 28, 2013 at 11:58am
  @skunkbear- Excuse me! She is my daughter not my slave. She has her own mind and she is smarter than you and me put togather. Scores on tests off the charts. I did not say I don’t bother to talk to her about her choices. I get the feeling you have never raised a kid. We are not rich and she can get All 8 years of school paid for. Crawl back to the basement and STFU
  
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- skunkbear
  Posted on January 28, 2013 at 10:19pm
  Pip: “@skunkbear- Excuse me! She is my daughter not my slave.”
  
  But do you not understand your daughter will soon be the pentagon’s slave?
  
  “She has her own mind and she is smarter than you and me put togather.”
  
  She will have to give up her own mind – free will – when she joins up. And you do not know me so you do not know how smart I am.
  
  “I get the feeling you have never raised a kid.”
  
  Actually, I raised a son, mostly by myself. I raised him to think for himself and in order to do that I taught him how to see through the lies and propaganda that is everything the gubment says and does, especially the oh so admired US military.
  
  “We are not rich and she can get All 8 years of school paid for.”
  
  I can see the temptation for the college money but is it really worth the loss of her self being, if not her actual life? And for what?
  
  “Crawl back to the basement and STFU”
  
  The purpose of these forums is for an open exchange of ideas and thoughts, even – especially – those you do not agree with. I can understand your sensitivity, she being your daughter and all. But you are the one who brought her into the discussion. That made her story fair game.
  
  And FYI I do not live in a basement.
  
  Report this comment
slappyhooper
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:24pm
I’ve spent 8.5 years in the USMC. 1st enlistment was as a 0351 Infantry Assaultman. I’ve done 2 pumps to Iraq- Ramadi in 2005 and Fallujah in 2007.

If the female requirements are exactly the same as the male requirements, no more, no less, then have at it. The biggest problem that most grunts have with women is that they’re held to different physical standards. This might not be too important when you’re talking about typing reports or fixing COMM gear, but when you’re talking about being able to pull a 200 man with full gear out of the line of fire, Most women simply won’t make the grade.

Most guys used to hump 80-100 lbs of gear in 125 degree heat when we ran patrols. We ran ourselves ragged and went weeks without a shower.

While there may be some women who can handle that kind of environment, most can’t. It’s a simple fact. So my take is this. Screen the women who want to, hold them to the same exact standard as men, and let them in if they make it. Don’t “adjust” or “normalize” the requirements. Don’t lower the expectations of job because women want in.

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spudwhite
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:24pm
Neither men nor women should be required to register for the draft, IMO. One should freely choose to go to a just war, declared by Congress. Barring that, forget it. Women should never be in combat roles, period.

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wpatte2454
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:24pm
I spent 25 years and several combat deployments throughout the world, I’m now over 50 but still can
pass a females PT test, its a joke. They will just lower the standards for the females, they always do!!! dont get me wrong, I have great respect for them but its stupid to think they can pull the same weight of men. Women want equlity but the truth is when they compete for E-7 E-8 & E-9 grade ranks they
compete against other females not males for the same job or grade. So males may have to compete against thousands of other males where female may only have to compete against 50 to 100. Is that equal I guess if your the female, Equality in the military is a joke and everyone knows it but keeps their mouth shut about it. To many females in your unit can cripple you I seen many times in my career. Females get pregant and get a profile for everything except breathing and get 6 weeks free maternity leave and then usally take additional 2 weeks of there own leave when the baby is born. Males always have to pickup the slack in the unit. Its not good for moral when you got others picking up their slack. Sorry if I offened anyone here I speak the truth for every one female you tell me about who can hack it I can tell you about 100 that couldn’t. I served most of my career with combat arms units and a few years with signal and transortation units. I hope the Generals in the Pentagon will have the balls to speak out about this but my guess they will hide under their desk like

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Sharon Rose
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:22pm
I can only imagine what would happen to women who are captured on the battlefield.
I believe a man would want to protect a woman on the battlefield therefore possibly endangering them all.

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dusanmal
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:19pm
There are two completely separate questions here that I think I can answer from a perspective of an immigrant from a nation with 1000+ years of tradition of women (and children and elderly,…) participating in warfare on equal foot.
First, are women (despite physical differences) capable of true and proper military contribution in combat? As note above points – there are places in the World where they were doing so for a very long time. Hence the answer is Yes.
Second, in the specific cultural setting of US culture and US military – is such move wise and appropriate? Considering that just few decades ago US women were considered as domestic servants as a rule (just check 1950′s and 1960′s),… despite strong emancipation I think that the answer is No. Culture sets minds and actions. There I agree with Mr. Beck’s recent notion that men would distort combat priorities in the presence of fellow women combatants. Men of US military. This act is too hasty for the present cultural mindset.
What would have been a proper “intermediate” action? – Similar to long lasting people of color integration into the military (that ended well and fully integrated) – first step in bringing females further into combat status should have been separate, all female units, led by female commanding structure. Few decades of such setup could help eventual true integration and societal change. Present situation (I think) may actually cause more harm than good, to military and women.

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- piplovestheUSA
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:40pm
  Could say some of that same stuff about gays I think.
  
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BaltimoreJoe
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:19pm
I have two daughters and served several tours myself. I don’t think it’s a good idea and every President before this one felt the same way, as had every JCS, every Chief of Staff…the last in a long list of ideals that use to be the norm that our little kenyan now believes are all wrong….

30 seconds after proclaiming women could do all these jobs as well as some men the regs are quietly being rewritten to lower the physical standards, women exempted from even registering for the draft…etc., etc.

Isreal is a special case where they are surroiunded by enemies and any war there would likely spill directly into the civilian population. They cannot afford to exempt anyone and it’s to women’s benefit with all the day to day attacks that occur against civilians today.

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FunFunFun
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:12pm
What do you think about mandatory good citizenship training for all. Both men and women, at 18 of age, register and trained, separated by sex, in becoming a disciplined contributor into the country. In finance, person health, community health, law, ….

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- skunkbear
  Posted on January 28, 2013 at 12:03am
  Yes, it is only through the government -especially the federal government – that people can become good and responsible…
  
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Totally Domestic
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:11pm
Just another way to degrade our military. Along with homosexuals.

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valiant1776
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:10pm
It sounds good and all if they don’t lower standards or expectations or make special accommodations, but the problem is that when in actual combat, men tend to change their immediate response in dire situations when women are put into factor. Male soldiers have already been reprimanded, while on official duty, for protecting a female soldier over a fellow male soldier. It’s a natural instinct for most men to want to protect a woman over a man. Male soldiers have already been disciplined in past times for putting the mission or other soldiers in jeopardy by not following exact protocol or orders, due to female soldiers. Women will not be the problem. Men will be the problem. While women might believe and be sure they can work as well as men in combat, men will not act the same when put in combat with women. Women are and always will be a distraction to men. There are exceptions of women meeting or exceeding the same standards requisite for men, but in general, this is not the case. Policy wise, this is not a good move for the military. This is just another move by liberals and progressives to continue feminizing and denigrating manliness in our our nation. Their goal is to loosen the traditional view of the family and to disintegrate the natural relationship between a husband and wife, and especially to dissolve the important natural distinctive roles men and women play in society.

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- momrules
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:19pm
  Excellent post.
  
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Frederick_Douglass_Republican
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:08pm
Women put this president and his cabal in power. They affirmed this destructive curse on our country and the world by re-electing them. Let women be drafted to suffer the brutality of war. Let them pay the price for their ignorant decision. Let them serve under this uncaring despot.

Elections have consequences. Elections. Have. Consequences.

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Dano.50
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:04pm
Oh and one other thing everybody seems to have forgotten.

When it comes to being sent to war, unfortunately there is that invariable percentage that tries to figure out how to stay home…

And pregnancies rise notably before troops ship out.

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txjb
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:01pm
Do we have a draft, is one coming ?

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searching for the Truth
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:00pm
Absolutely not ! Ladies have hard enough time just to find work; would hate to see them striving for work with one of their limbs missing. However, they are sharp , smart ,keen, and indefatigable when it comes to endurance.

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- valiant1776
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 10:17pm
  It sounds good and all if they don’t lower standards or expectations or make special accommodations, but the problem is that when in actual combat, men tend to change their immediate responses in dire situations when women are put into factor. Male soldiers have already been reprimanded, while on official duty, for protecting a female soldier over a fellow male soldier. It’s a natural instinct for most men to want to protect a woman over a man. Male soldiers have already been disciplined in past times for putting the mission or other soldiers in jeopardy by not following exact protocol or orders, due to female soldiers. Women will not be the problem. Men will be the problem. While women might believe and be sure they can perform as well as men in combat, men will not act the same when put in combat with women. Women are and always will be a distraction to men. Of course, there are certain exceptional women meeting or exceeding the same standards requisite for men, but in general, this is not the case. Policy wise, this is not a good move for the military. This is just another move by liberals and progressives to continue feminizing and denigrating manliness in our nation. On another note, their goal is to loosen the traditional view of the family, to disintegrate the natural relationship between husband and wife, but most of all, to dissolve the important natural distinctive roles men and women play in society.
  
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