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Monday, Feb 25, 2013 8:15 AM UTC

Listen up ladies! Uncle Sam might want you too

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Listen up ladies! Uncle Sam might want you tooFILE – in this Jan. 24, 2013, file photo Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hands the memorandum he has just signed, ending the 1994 ban on women serving in combat, to Army Lt. Col. Tamatha Patterson of Huntingdon, Tenn., during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. The decision to lift the ban on women in combat has opened the door for a change in the law that currently compels only men between the ages of 18 and 25 to register for a military draft, according to legal experts and military historians. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, file)(Credit: AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tennnnnn-hut ladies!

The next time Uncle Sam comes calling, he’s probably going to want you, too.

The Obama administration recently decided to lift the ban on women in combat. Legal experts and military historians say that decision has opened the door for a change in the law that currently compels only men between age 18 and 25 to register for a military draft.

Never before have women been drafted into military service. Neither the White House nor Congress are in a hurry to make them register for a future call-up.

A draft would be enormously unpopular and adding women to the mix just isn’t a priority for a battle-weary country nearing the end of more than a decade of war. Yet, legally, there may be no other choice.

More By Richard Lardner.

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