Drafting daughters to fight America's wars

[Peeps]

Perhaps things are different where you are. All of my co-workers, lab techs in the hospital (so educated with Bachelor’s Degrees) have fat children who aren’t involved in any sports at all. Their lives are busy enough with day care or school and their phones.

I’'m always shocked when there is a social and I see these kids and wonder how these health care professionals can have such unhealthy, inactive kids.

And even though many of us were not involved with organized sports when we were growing up in the 1960/70s, we were still much more active, walking and riding our bikes everywhere in the city including to and from school, doing chores around the house and yard, playing active outdoor games with other children and teens, and just moving around more–our parents weren’t nearly as quick to say, “Will you sit still!?!” Just the opposite–my mom or dad would say, “Why are you just sitting there reading? Go outside and get some fresh air!”

There were always kids in the neighborhoods, and there were neighborhood parks with playground equipment, and when we got older, we were trying to be like John Denver and hike around in the outdoors, or learn to ski (even though we lived in the Midwest!) or skate.

And there were the intramural sports at school, which I and many other moms my age WISH could be brought back! Lots of kids just aren’t good enough to make the school competitive basketball or volleyball team nowadays, so they do nothing (since most churches don’t offer teams and competitions anymore). Intramural sports gave everyone a chance to play just for fun–and good exercise.

Finally, maybe the fat doesn’t matter (although I think it does), but there are also plenty of statistics demonstrating that many teens have the beginnings of high blood pressure and clogged arteries.

I do think these things are serious enough that it would be hard to create a viable armed forces from our current young people.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Fat youth is not really a health risk. Its later in life they will struggle to live. Washington begged for fatter troops during the revolution. Fatter germans would have made better gains in Russia for ww2. Vietnam… dont really know. But the fat people who went over there came back thin if they came back at all.

 

[HerCrazierHalf]

It’s not just the weight but the health conditions often associated. That said, in not sure the next war will need conscripts. If things become dire enough then a shift from “capture that” to "“destroy that” will require less people. Seems the big numbers come in when occupying.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I think “the next war” that might reach a draftable size will be won by the best skilled video game players. Things are looking up for the US.

 

[TC3033]

Women dominate soccer in this country and dare I say it? might beat the men.

No chance…like not even a little.

because it’s a women’s sport my girls play.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Lol. The us women must might beat a mens team from a third world tiny nation of oh I dont know let’s say the the combined team of Trinidad and Tobago. I’ll bet the men would go 1 and 1 against that… it’s not a stretch to think a first world team from a giant country with incredible female athletes could beat a mens team. And in the us if you are Male and an incredible athlete well… you dont play soccer. And if you do, you sign with an NFL team to kick for millions of dollars. You know… like a man.

 

[tafan2]

It is a huge stretch. The US women’s team would not stand a chance against any men’s team from any country. I am reminded of a few years back at my son’s local high school, the girls varsity basketball team was really good, won the state championship with no problem. They scrimmaged a day against the boy’s freshman team and got killed.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

We will never really know will we. The only solace I have is that the sun rises in the east and soccer is LAME. Not qualifying for WC us the best 8 years this country will have since Reagan.

 

[Zzyzx_Road]

I seem to remember that the women’s national soccer team once scrimmaged against a high school boys’ frosh-soph team and were beaten soundly. That story got memory holed fast as it wasn’t politically correct.

Back on topic, well the feminists wanted equality everywhere. They can have it. Foxholes for them too. Why do they insist on invading every last male space, even when it’s clear they may not be suited for it?

 

[JimG]

It seems that in a serious war with a determined enemy, perhaps many will not have either the capacity or the will to resist.

 

[TC3033]

The us women must might beat a mens team from a third world tiny nation of oh I dont know let’s say the the combined team of Trinidad and Tobago. I’ll bet the men would go 1 and 1 against that… it’s not a stretch to think a first world team from a giant country with incredible female athletes could beat a mens team.

It’s a huge stretch…like zero chance. It’s nothing against the women either, it’s just the truth of the situation. For a little perspective: We see the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team up here playing warm-up games…a lot, especially around the Olympics and World Cup time. They prepare by playing high school boys varsity teams and go about .500.

And in the us if you are Male and an incredible athlete well… you dont play soccer.

To say these guys aren’t incredible athletes is well…out there.

And if you do, you sign with an NFL team to kick for millions of dollars. You know… like a man.

 

[heidi_storage]

In 2017, some high school boys beat the U.S. Olympic women’s team.

The FC Dallas U-15 Academy team beat the U.S. Women' s National Team, 5-2

The U.S. women’s national soccer team is considered the best in the world, champions of the 2015 World Cup and winners of multiple Olympic gold medals. All those awards didn’t intimidat…

usatodayhss.com

Women are only about half as strong as men (there’s slightly more parity in lower body strength, but not much), they have lower bone density, and they are built differently from men. Good for carrying babies, lousy for carrying heavy equipment on long marches and helping drag comrades to safety.

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

Lol. I don’t know much about soccer because it’s a women’s sport my girls play. But let me tell you a story. I played football and basketball in college. I’m not good at either especially basketball. After college a co worker of mine had a sister in the WNBA. After relentless ribbing of my co worker about women’s basketball I asserted that I, a collegiate basketball player, and a man could beat his sister one on one. I really believed it. Just by sheer physicality I should beat her. I had about 4 inches and 100 pounds on her. We bet our entire paychecks on the game. And our whole company was on the sidelines. I was right, I was physically dominant, knocked her to the ground a few times and she bled. True street ball.

She beat me 21-8.

Well I have a hunch that this WNBA playing sister wasn’t 5’4 and 125lb either. Look, I would expect basically every professional female athlete to pretty much school me at whatever their sport or event was. It’s what they do, they constantly train at it, they are gifted for it. But no WNBA team is going to go toe to toe with an NBA team, your local women’s rugby club team isn’t going to compete with the men’s club team, and this will hold true across basically all levels and all types of competition that need physicality. I’d imagine gymnastics might be different as it benefits small compact people, but I don’t know much about that sport.

And as this thread is really in regards to a draft, we are talking about average young women coming out of high school, not the most gifted female athletes in the world operating at their peak. For combat, one of the most challenging aspects and the one that can really make a difference in life and death is moving quickly under load. It is extremely taxing. Your standard kit consists of 35lb of armor, then your basic load of ammo, helmet, 6lbs of water, and rifle. This adds up to about 60lbs of gear, and that’s your baseline. Then inside a team or squad you start cross-loading extra ammo for the SAW or MG gunner, mortar rounds for the mortar team, and radios for leadership. This is around half your average 18yr old woman’s body weight. You then get to sprint around with all this on. Then if you get into a long duration environment of more than a few hours you start adding extra batteries, MREs, etc for sustainment. If somebody goes down, your average guy just went from about 175lbs to about 230-240lbs that you have to drag or carry. There are women who can do this. Your average one is going to be on the low end of the scale of being an effective squad member. Long story short, drafting women adds no real benefit to the combat readiness of the nation, and it is not needed. It just sounds cool for egalitarianism.

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

I’'m always shocked when there is a social and I see these kids and wonder how these health care professionals can have such unhealthy, inactive kids.

I went and looked it up and the obesity numbers are staggering. I really was not expecting them. Almost 60% of women (20-35) are overweight or obese with 40% obese. Average weight of 166lbs. For men, and I couldn’t find a breakdown of specifically younger men, but almost 75% are overweight or obese with 40% obese and average weight of approximately 197lbs. Those are pretty staggering percentages.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Oh in no way would I assert that a WNBA league team could ever beat an NBA team or an NBA development league team like the lakers. . And I also said I hold McEnroe’s opinion that one of the best, perhaps the best and most physical woman Serena would be about 700 in the Men’s rankings. Sports are a individual case. For instance, the male physique in tennis of tall and muscular players tends to lean more to the male advantage. And there are mitigating factors in soccer. 1. An individual goalie has a huge impact on the game, and the goalie by nature limits the physical advantage of the men. Coupled with in the US where women athletes are encouraged to play soccer while other sports such as basketball, football, baseball, track, hockey, draw the vast majority of male athletes that are elite. In other countries, it’s been said, that young men dream of being a soccer star. In the US young soccer stars dream of kicking field goals in the NFL. That would not be the case in a culturally soccer country where men aspire to play more than any other sport. Also, the USA has a much better all around inclusion of young women than some more, shall we say, machismo countries.

All this fun sports banter aside, Your point is absolutely right about combat and physical ground warfare. While some women might meet the requirements of their male counterparts and should be allowed combat, others perhaps the vast majority do not. But the question is, has warfare changed so much that drafting a general population could and should include women. I suggest it has. Drafted Women can help load a C130 or help run a camp or any other number of duties currently done by men. And those men could then be freed to add to the actual ground combat force. If you have ever seen a woman sneak out of a baby’s room without waking them you know that can indeed be useful in combat. “here Janet, go paint that target” And not to go all Captain Marvel here but pilots can and maybe should be women. I know an air force pilot, (also an avid soccer fan) who is not much of a physical specimen. A great pilot, but probably not exactly focused on “leg days Brah”

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

And yet I wouldn’t get in the middle of two bigger girls going at it at ladies night in the parking lot…

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I love the GIFs by the way.

But you don’t actually think a professional womens hockey team is going to go 100 percent against some high school kids do you? Look, In tennis, I “played” Andy Roddick at a charity event. Guess what! I won some points. Do you think I really won some points? (BTW if something has never come at you in the range of 150 MPH you have no idea how scary that is. (MPH) is a unit of measurement we used to get to the moon…

 

[TC3033]

But you don’t actually think a professional womens hockey team is going to go 100 percent against some high school kids do you?

I do think they play at 100% or at least close (from what I’ve watched) but then they need to in order to compete with some of the best HS programs in the nation. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. These aren’t throw away “charity events”, it’s their Olympic and world cup tune ups.

The women’s basketball team on campus and the local WNBA team do the same thing. They have a “scout team” of guys that could have played DII or DIII basketball that they scrimmage against.

1. An individual goalie has a huge impact on the game, and the goalie by nature limits the physical advantage of the men.

Disagreed. At a high level, GK play becomes less and less a controlling factor…and actually (in your hypothetical) wouldn’t limit the physical advantage of the men but would enhance it. A male GK would be able to own the penalty box much more efficiently, and vice/versa for a women’s GK.

draw the vast majority of male athletes that are elite.

I don’t disagree, but to think that the men on the USMNT aren’t elite is ridiculous.

In the US young soccer stars dream of kicking field goals in the NFL.

IDK about that, I know many who’s dreams were to play abroad

Also, the USA has a much better all around inclusion of young women than some more, shall we say, machismo countries.

Absolutely true. Our girls wanted to go play some tournaments in Europe…as coaches we kind of nixed that. Why would you want to fly 9 hours to Europe to play another team from the states.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I’d be pretty careful making the civilized claim. Most of the best soccer countries in the world are some of the least civilized and most corrupt. Countries that can’t feed their people, are second or third world completely corrupt. And I’ve never had the pleasure of sitting through a Manchester/liverpool 3 hour 0-0 tie, but I’m guessing I would not describe it as civilized…

 

[crenfro]

There’s actually a U.S. general who has a speech somewhere online - I listened to it - and he said that because our U.S. youth is in such bad shape it is a top military concern.