KUTV - Sen. Lee Says Congress Should Decide on Women in the Draft

News Article

By Rod Decker

Politicians in Washington, D.C. are discussing the possibility of making women register for the U.S. military draft.

Right now, only young men between 18 and 25 years old must sign up.

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has plans in place to allow women to enter day-to-day defense jobs, including front-line fighting. Military leaders are now trying to determine if the change should include the draft.

Aspen, a young woman in Utah thinks so. "If we feel we need to be equal to men, then we need to step up and own it."

Her friend Clarissa agrees. "If our country needs us to fight than I will fight for it," she said. "If I'm trained to do it, I can do it."

Utah Senator Mike Lee has a slightly different view. "We might put women into combat, on the front lines, while there are able-bodied men who are not fighting," Sen. Lee said. He's sponsoring a bill mandating that Congress must authorize the change.

"Any change to that needs to be made by the people's representatives in Congress, not by some bureaucrat or a judge," Sen. Lee said.

The United States currently has an all volunteer military. Nobody has actually been drafted since 1972.

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