Military Implementation Plan puts Women
in Direct Combat and Foxholes
“The time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service. The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously join me in proposing that we move forward with the full intent to integrate women into occupational fields to the maximum extent possible.”
– General Martin E. Dempsey, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman,
January 9, 2013 Memo to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
Since a current social goal of the Defense Department is “diversity as a strategic imperative,” the draft-women issue is being considered by the U.S. District Court for Central California. The case against the Selective Service System (SSS) and its director, Lawrence G. Romo and DOES 1 – 50, was filed by the 501(c)(3) National Coalition for Men (NCFM) and 18-year-old Texas resident James Lesmeister, who recently registered for the draft.
The plaintiffs claim sex-based discrimination against males, because females are exempt from a military draft. While women are not required to register, men who fail to register can be fined $250,000, sentenced to five years in prison and disqualified from a number of government benefits, such as jobs, financial aid, citizenship and job training.
The female combat exemption was rescinded. On January 9, 2013, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey sent a memo to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta about the “Women in the Service Implementation Plan,” that equalizes the roles of men and women in the military. The first sentence explained, “The time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.”
Fifteen days later on January 24, 2013, outgoing Defense Secretary Panetta announced the administration’s intent to eliminate military women’s exemption from direct ground combat in the Army and Marine infantry, armor, artillery, Special Operations Forces and navy SEALs. Elimination of that made females and males “similarly situated” in the military and eligible for the draft. The 1981 Supreme Court Rostker v. Goldberg decision explained the term as follows:
“The purpose of registration was to prepare for a draft of combat troops. Since women are excluded from combat, Congress concluded that they would not be needed in the event of a draft, and therefore decided not to register them … Men and women, because of the combat restrictions on women, are simply not similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft.”
In 1992, the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces noted: “The purpose of conscription is to induct what the Supreme Court called ‘combat replacements’ in a time of national emergency. Therefore if women are not eligible for direct ground combat, Congress could exempt them from registering for the draft.” (Emphasis added.)
ACTION – Ask Congress to prohibit women in combat. Congress is in recess, so call their local office as follows: Representatives Kingston (R-1st), Savannah: 912 352-0101; Bishop (D-2nd), Columbus: 706 320-9477; Westmoreland (R-3rd), 770 683-2033; Johnson (D-4th), Lithonia: 770 987-2291; Lewis (D-5th), Atlanta: 404 659-0116; Price (R-6th), Roswell: 770 998-0049; Woodall (R-7th), Lawrenceville: 770 232-3005; Austin Scott (D-8th), Warner Robins: 478 971-1776; Collins (R-9th), Gainesville: 770 297-3388; Broun (R-10th), Athens: 706 549-5988; Gingrey (R-11th), Marietta: 770 429-1776; Barrow (D-12th), Toll-free in Georgia: 1 866 890-6236; David Scott (D-13th), Jonesboro: 770 210-5073; Graves (R-14th), Dalton: 706 226-5320. NOTE: Please make a separate call for each action suggested in this newsletter.
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