WASHINGTON—Pledging to do everything in his power to ensure the mental and physical needs of his troops were being fulfilled, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that the United States had officially instated a military wife draft. Hegseth told reporters that given the “abysmal” numbers of Americans who voluntarily enlisted to wed U.S. soldiers, he had “no choice” but to conscript young, physically able women into mandatory military marriage service. In open defiance of the nation’s draft, women converged across Washington, D.C., for a series of peaceful rallies during which they marched, chained themselves to military chapels, and burned their government-issued Marriage Registration Cards. “The things I’ve experienced as a military wife no woman should ever have to see,” said 43-year-old Maryland resident Jennifer Graf, who was medically discharged and awarded a Medal of Marital Freedom by Laura Bush after suffering several broken bones in the line of duty. “I just hope the next woman they draft to marry my ex-husband is luckier than me.”