The Defense Department announced this week that they are lifting the ban on women in combat situations.

“I am in a coed unit and we function just fine,” senior criminal justice major Sgt. Amber Wilkins said. “We conduct the same type of missions that combat units conduct and in my opinion women were always in combat just not officially. There will be problems though. Infantry units will have to consider what to do about physical fitness standards because most women can’t carry 200 pounds across a field.”

Despite these potential problems, lifting this combat ban clearly makes the military more equal. There is still at least one major way in which men are unequal, however: the Selective Service.

As of now, every male, at age 18, is required to register for the Selective Service in case the draft is brought back, but women are not required to register.

The military now considers women and men to be equal in terms of combat eligibility; shouldn’t women be treated equally in terms of the draft? There’s still an inherent inequality to the system as long as women are treated differently.

Since we’re comfortable with women in combat, shouldn’t we be comfortable with women being included in the Selective Service and the possibility of being drafted? Or, to put it another way, if we aren’t comfortable with women in the Selected Service, should we be comfortable with it at all?

We should eliminate the Selective Service altogether. Then there would be no inequality between men and women, and anyone who wanted to and was well qualified could be put into a combat role.

I believe that the military should be a volunteer organization. We as a nation should not force people into dangerous or life-threatening situations without their consent. Men and women both shouldn’t be forced to kill and die for something they might not believe in.

Veshaw, a sophomore mathematics and creative writing major from Apex, is an opinion writer.