This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016

No women

It's been in the news lately that some generals on the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that women be drafted just like men. In addition to this, the presidential candidates in last night's debate seem to agree that women should have the right to sign up for selective service as well. Let me understand this, and maybe I am wrong -- do teenage men have the right to sign up for selective service? I thought it was an obligation, and if we didn't sign up then we could be subject to jail time. Selective service means, as I understand it, that you can be drafted without any alternative but to be sent off to some foreign land to be shot up, blown to pieces and possibly be held in some foreign prisoner camp with the likes of the Taliban, al-Qaeda or ISIS as your jailer.

I will make it clear that I will not support any candidate for president who will draft my daughter against her will so that she can be maimed or sent to some foreign prisoner camp to be raped or tortured. Can you imagine putting your daughter through what Sen. John McCain went through or even worse, such as being sold as a sex slave or a new bride for some Muslin extremist? I wonder what Vietnam vets would think about putting women in the jungles of Vietnam like they were without any choice. I feel as strongly about this as I do about killing babies in the womb. Americans and these candidates need to think about this before we embark on this new experiment.

— Chuck Fore

Eastman

According to the Selective Service System, "Almost all male U.S. citizens and male immigrants, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service." In order for women to be included, Congress would have to change the law. Presently, we have an all volunteer military force.

— Editors

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 9:39 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 ."