Draft Women Into the Military
Four scores ago, women in America began to enjoy more civil liberties and rights, and today, they continue to do so as democracy flourishes. With women’s liberties nearly identical to men’s, they can now be held accountable for defending this nation should another force threaten it. The United State’s high tech arsenal demands less physical stamina from soldiers, thus making combat perfectly suitable for females. Modernized technology backed by thriving democracy makes women ripe for the battlefield. America can pay women the highest honor by having them serve side-by-side men defending their democracy together in critical eras.
The traditional reason women are not included in the draft is that they are not equal to men. Women are only soldiers at home- Corporal Mom. Women only recently acquired the ballot (relative to the nation’s founding). However, today men and women have equal protection under the law. There is no constitutional law that gives men priority over women. Women now enjoy the same harbor under the wings of democracy as men do. It is only proper now to fully extend those wings by giving women a clear opportunity to defend their hard earned rights. Issuing a mandate for their military service makes them active participants of democracy. A dual sex draft not only holds them accountable for the civil liberties that they share with men, but it also delegates them an important duty which they covet because it shows they have a role in preserving freedom.
The most scientific argument that critics of the all-gender draft offer is women’s weaker strength, shorter endurance, and lower stamina. By trait, they do not match up to men in the battlefield. In critical wars, sending more vulnerable women into combat can prove costly. Critics look to the addition of women in the draft as a weakness, not a strength.
Sophisticated weaponry compensates for women’s deficiencies. In a high-tech battlefield where death is executed at the push of a button, depending on pure bodily strength is a fatal tactical error. It may surprise many that the common image of two rough men battling away with bayonets is quite rare. Soldiers have become operators of mechanized killing machines- tanks and helicopters capable of piloting itself; missiles that seek and destroy its own targets by voice command. With training, men and women are equally capable of operating these advanced, light-touch weapons. Except for the most extreme circumstances, gorilla physique is no longer a prerequisite for military service, even if the war is as critical as one requiring a draft. Thanks to the latest weapons systems, women make perfect additions to the military draft.
The politics and technology in America today make it pragmatic to include women in the draft. Following the trend of feminine rights progress, it could be said that women actually want to be included in the draft. Trends of women demanding the right for a place in the dangerous heavy metal industry in the 1920’s, rather than staying in the comfort of the home, suggest that the feminine protest will demand the right to be called to duty when the country issues a draft. Women wanted to work in the steel factories because it made them feel instrumental to America’s booming manufacturing industry. Logically, they want to be included in the draft because it makes them feel instrumental to defending their democracy.
If women want to be in the draft because it makes them feel patriotic and because they now have their own rights to protect, and if the technology is here, then by God, let them have it!
Reflection
The goal of this essay is to defend the draft of women into the military. This essay has an effective introduction. It provides an appropriate context for introducing women into the battlefield. The thesis has a romantic touch to it, yet provides convincing defense for my pro-draft position. In the first body paragraph, I used the equal rights amendment of the Constitution as the first line of defense in allowing women to serve in the army. This appeal to logic created a solid foundation for me to elaborate on the principles of duty to one’s country. I argued that women would want to serve in the US military because it is their patriotic duty as a citizen of America. It is logical, not only in a legal sense, but also in a moral sense, that women should be able to serve in the military along with their male counter-parts. Now, before I continue with the second paragraph, it is important to note the specific organizational pattern of the essay. All three kinds of appeal are incorporated in the three paragraphs- appeal to logic, appeal to emotions, and appeal to pathos. The prompt of this essay allowed me to develop the essay by progressing from one kind of appeal to the other. Thus the end result is one fully developed essay that is concise and to the point. Of course, every essay can be improved, and so can this one. The last section of the essay regarding politics would work better if it was tied to the beginning, where I mentioned constitutional rights. Merging the two parts together would build strength in my argument, allowing the former section to reinforce the latter. The conclusion paragraph also has questionable usefulness. Instead of making a sensible closure commentary, I ended the essay with an almost comical exclamatory outburst. The last sentence was more extraneous than functional.