The government might have to consider requiring women to register for the selective service when they turn 18 — just as men do — in the name of equality, retired Army Major Gen. Dennis Laich told Newsmax TV.
Laich spoke with John Bachman on Newsmax Now about a government project he's working on that looks at the future of the U.S. military and its force of volunteers.
"If women are not required to register, then men will say well wait a minute, in the interest of equality, why should we? And if that happens and it's a successful argument, we'll see selective service go by the boards. Or at least run the risk of it," Laich said.
"And if that happens, we will impair national security because never in the history of our nation have we had a mass mobilization without conscription."
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Laich also argued against allowing recruits who score extremely low on tests to be allowed into military service because they put others in danger.
He said that nearly 2 percent of the 70,000 soldiers the Army recruited last year "were category 4 soldiers that scored between the 10th and 31st percentile in the Army aptitude test. These soldiers present a problem to themselves and the military and those with whom they serve because they are substandard performers in a number of criterion."
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