“Do you think women should be required to register with the Selective Service, as young men must do at the age of 18, in case the draft is reinstated?”

Over the past five months the Bangor Daily News has asked military and civilian Maine residents to complete an unscientific survey about mandated female service. Survey participants included members of the Maine Air and Army National Guard units in Bangor and Gardiner, and high school basketball tournament fans at the Bangor Auditorium. All surveys were anonymous, requesting the respondees’ gender, age, military or civilian status, and a yes or no answer to the poll question. The same question was asked of Democratic presidential candidates on July 23 during the CNN-YouTube debate.

Yes No % ‘yes’

Air Guard

Males 113 24 82%

Females 54 10 88.50%

Army National Guard

Males 42 19 68.80%

Females 10 3 76.90%

General Public

Males 21 8 72.40%

Females 13 14 48.10%

Age Yes No % ‘yes’

18-29 Air Guard 43 25 63.20%

Army National Guard 23 8 74.20%

General public 2 5 28.60%

30-39 Air Guard 30 11 73.20%

Army National Guard 14 7 66.70%

General public 9 4 69.20%

40-49 Air Guard 51 23 68.90%

Army National Guard 12 5 70.60%

General public 4 11 26.70%

50-59 Air Guard 12 3 80%

Army National Guard 3 2 60%

General public 8 9 47.10%

60-69 Air Guard 0 0 0%

Army National Guard 0 0 0%

General public 4 2 66.70%

70-79 Air Guard 0 0 0%

Army National Guard 0 0 0%

General public 1 1 50%

80+up Air Guard 0 0 0%

General public 0 1 0%

Women in military: by the numbers

563 women wounded in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom

14 women wounded during Operation Enduring Freedom

13 women died (hostile and nonhostile) in Operation Enduring Freedom

92 women died (hostile and nonhostile) in Operation Iraqi Freedom

There are 263,452 troops (all active, Guard, Reserve, Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, Coast Guard) now deployed overseas. Of these, 25,793 troops are women.

1,686,794 of U.S. military service members have deployed since Sept. 11. 188,219 of these troops were women.

There are 204,138 females in all active duty U.S. armed forces, while the total active duty force is 1,412,935.

Active duty females make up 14.4 percent of total military personnel.

There are 147,008 women in all branches of the Reserve and National Guard.

There are 836,933 total members in all branches of the Reserve and National Guard.

Women make up 17.6 percent of all National Guard and Reserve Forces.

In 2006, nearly 97 percent of active duty enlisted women have received a high school diploma, or 160,334, as compared to almost 94 percent of men, or 992,860.

In 2006, nearly 96 percent of Guard and Reserve enlisted women have received a high school diploma, or 116,784, compared to almost 93 percent of men, or 539,766.

In 2006, nearly 52,5000 active duty enlisted women held administrative jobs, the occupation with the most females. Only about 8,000 active duty enlisted women held electronics positions and another 8,000 were in infantry, gun crew and seamanship posts. There were only 3,300 female craftsmen.

In 2006, more than 48,000 Guard and Reserve enlisted females were in administrative posts, while only about 3,000 held jobs in each of the craftsmen, technical, electronics, and infantry, gun crew and seamanship roles.

Source: Department of Defense