Does it bug you that women are not allowed to serve in direct combat roles in teh U.S. military?

Question

Women are allowed to be pilots, but only about 2% of our military's flyers are women. And yes women officers are allowed to fufill staff positions in infantry units, but enlisted women are not allowed to participate in direct combat roles in such units.

Answer 1

Yes it bothers me. Many women in Iraq have been involved in direct combat, and that has made it clear that women can perform as well as men in direct ground combat.

Someone mentioned that women don't have as much upper body strenght as men....what does that have to do with direct ground combat? Should men who don't have as much strenght as other men not be allowed in those positions either then? There are some women that are stronger than a lot of men, and they are still not allowed because of their GENDER.

What they should do is give a standarized test for both men and women, and accept those who pass either male or female.

Edit: (to asker) yes, that I can understand. What I meant to say is that the standards should be exactly the same for men and women, and those females who meet those standards should be allowed in direct combat.

Answer 2

I know some women who would have the war fought and over in record time.

Answer 3

I believe there are quite a few front line women troops in the Iraq invasion, which has lead to real problems with the female soldiers being raped by their own brothers in arms, and it didn't really help the war effort.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/comm...

The Israeli's worked out women are massively more likely to be killed or injured than a male soldier under the same circumstances (about 8x more likely) and banned them. The UK banned women from the front line on the back of that study, so it's not surprising a lot of countries won't allow them up front.Also, way fewer women reach the required strength.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1901721.st...

Answer 4

I think they should be allowed to, if they wish.  However if there was much opposition to this the military would have resolved this issue.

msmanners- Can you find the article about this woman? I can't seem to locate it.

Answer 5

I dont want ANYONE to be allowed to "serve" in an army

Why would you care about supporting mass murder, and country-wrecking, and Hitlering?????

What for?

Is it like  sport?

Or imagining getting to kill people yourself?

Answer 6

msmanners I find it difficult to be live you were once in the military.  Most people consider themselves "former" military as the military is always a part of their lives.  True it is minor semantics, but most in the military are willing to point this out and steer clear of the word "ex".

Answer 7

Women can do anything so they should be allowed to be in combat.

Answer 8

Only the most capable should be allowed in direct combat. Otherwise they will endanger the whole unit.

But as it was said women do not process the same torso strength as men do. So I think if would be a bad idea for infantry. Maybe for tanks, planes, artillery, etc. But not for infantry. Unless a woman can pass exactly the same test as a man.  

A unit is as weak as it weakest component.

Answer 9

Apparently the men need to send the women in first! They can wait in the background for the grunt work. By the time we are done complaining, a whole country could be evacuated!  If we happen to be on the rag......think we could clear out three easy! :)

As I always tell the hubby....don't upset me since you have to sleep sometime

.Kudos to everyone! Trying to impart a bit of humor here!

Answer 10

If women are qualified and are able to perform the same tasks as men at the same level of effectiveness I don't think there should be any distinction between a male or female soldier in a direct combat role. However, I am not bothered by the fact that as a general rule women are not allowed to serve in a direct combat role. There are instances where a woman will be involved in direct combat and I am sure they have the training to mix it up with any opponent the US could possibly face.

Answer 11

I think that women should not be able to fight. They shouldn't fight because they should stay at home looking after the kids.

Answer 12

Actually, women are involved in direct combat. I recently read the Navy Times (I'm prior Navy) where there's female fighter and bomber pilots who fly regular missions over combat areas off the decks of Aircraft Carriers; there are women who've been involved in convoys that where attacked (Placing them directly in the line of fire) there was recently a Navy Corpsman (I believe) who pulled a number of soldiers to safety in the direct line of fire, receiving one of the highest awards for bravery (from my home state of Texas, don't mess with a Texas girl).

How do you think the African American Female graduate from West Point was killed (a road side bomb in hot combatant area). There are women who're placed in the line of fire everyday in Iraqi. I know a lot of female sailors, soldiers, airmen and marines who're pumping rounds into the bad guys as we speak. I just saw two more of my female friends get shipped off to Afghanistan and Iraqi a few days ago.

So you see, this argument is null'n void. Until you dawn a uniform, pick up a M-16, get into "Full Battle Rattle", load your Comm.’s, Lock and Load Rock n Roll; you honestly don't have S**t to say to me or any of the other women (and men) in here who've severed and are serving. I think we've proved ourselves time and time again to be very capable of handling combative situations. And we don't have to explain or prove our capabilities to YOU or anyone else in here who's a non believer. Our daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, wives, and nieces fight along side our fathers, husbands, brothers, unless and nephews everyday, sharing the same hardships, and heartaches. His *** is in her hands, and hers in his and they don’t think twice about what little punks like YOU have to say about it.  (Navy Vet, 1997 - 2006) Now, do we sign up for direct roles in combat? No, we're not allow too. But are we thrown into combative situations, yes! And we fight along side our men. Are we scared? h**l yea! Like anyone else is May they admit it or not. But anyone who’s forced into a freighting situation will fight their way out of it, it’s called “fight or flight”, meaning I’m going to kick your @$$ before you kick mine. I’m any not be strong a as a man, but I can shoot just as good as he can.

Answer 13

I am a woman and I think women should be allowed to serve in combat roles. They are and do in some countries.

Answer 14

no it doesn't bother me - my boyfriend wants to type something;

I've spent 2003-2004 in Afghanistan,2005-2006 in Iraq, near 5 yrs active duty Army Infantry with time in a LRS(recon) unit as a sniper. I'm a Sergeant, now in the Army Reserve with INTEL, as well as an Asst. Recruiter. - Infantry as well as other direct combat positions are NOT* open to women, period. That is a fact, you can go to the Army website, call the 1-800# and ask ANY Recruiter if you feel you must confirm. The person who posted that in this topic is correct, there's no arguement, call and ask if you don't believe it, simple.

As for my personal take on it... this is not a subject of sexism but of genetics. Research the effects of both testosterone and estrogen, amounts of each and the effects on human abilities and characteristics. Women are simply not built for the Infantry, aside from hormones, strength in general and other obvious differences, women also simply can't get as "dirty" as men. Personal example = I've once gone near 3 months without a shower or change of clothes, sleeping in the dirt of a 3rd world country, water rationed to the point where bathing at all, absolutely NOT allowed. The male body is able to endure a far lower level of hygeine without suffering serious ailments that would interfere with performance of duty.

It's a dirty job, literally.

Answer 15

It's for good reasons.

Answer 16

If they were allowed, this would be a terrible country

Answer 17

Many women are in direct combat roles in all aspects of the armed forces. Fighter pilots, infantry, etc etc. And a woman recently received a Medal of Honor for saving her entire platoon, putting herself in harms way and pulling her squad members to safety.

Sorry that you have been misinformed.

edit: Sorry, but I am ex military...not misinformed

edit: Thanks Tashandra P oh and asker....I don't stay on YA all day and night. I have a life and thanks to people like Tashandra (and myself thank you very much) we have a free country that allows me the freedom to do so.

And here is the link from the Washington Post. If you read the article you will find out about the solider as well as  the fact that while the rules suggest that women not be in direct combat roles, they are and face the same dangers as their male counter parts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

and this: Across Afghanistan, female medics such as Brown

are regularly sent to serve with combat units. "The real catch was to have a female medic out there because of the cultural sensitivities and the flexibility that gave commanders," said Maj. Paul Narowski, the executive officer of Brown's battalion

Answer 18

Do I feel bad?  Nope!

It's hard and bad enough seeing our sons (husbands, fathers and brothers) coming home mamed for life or dead.  Can you imagine what the country's morality would be seeing their daughters, mothers, wives and sisters too?

Puting a fist full of young women on a ship full of young boys, in confined spaces from prolonged periods is a recipe for distraction/disaster.  And, about the time the pregnancy rate goes up?

OSHA came aboard our ship, told us we were nolonger allowed to carry the amount of weight we were carrying -- the women couldn't keep up.  The job just got a lot harder.

I was in combat with the Marine Corps.  We had to go find and rescue young Miss Rathburn-Neale (Desert Storm -- Khafji), she got treated far differently (by our news media and the higher ups) than did her male counter parts who were also missing.

Answer 19

If a woman can meet the physical mental and emotional criteria the average man can - I absolutely agree it's sexist to deny a woman the opportunity to serve her country like men can in combat or in any role in the US military. If women are to truly succeed and rise in the ranks in the military-they  need to have the opportunity to get combat experience...plus it would help if we have female politicians who had served in the military and especially in combat as well so people can't say women don't know squat about the military or combat.

As the military (all branches) are becoming more and more technological-physical attributes are decreasing in importance and emotional and intellectual capabilities are increasing in demand and importance-just like it is happening in many businesses and corporations world-wide. In addition-the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are proving that many war zones are combat areas no matter what job you have-so that is why more combat positions have been opened up to women by Clinton and Bush in the last few years. It's recently been estimated that women in the US military can apply for 80-90% of the combat roles due to executive orders-but the US Congress will have to give the final go-ahead for women to be able to apply for 100% of combat jobs and Congress has refused for decades to deal with women and the military-especially women and combat. The Supreme Court refuses to decide the issue as well and throws the decision back onto Congress-so until we elect less sexist politicians-we're stuck with the military like it is for years to come in the US..

Answer 20

Well if women weren't given "watered down" PT tests, and if they had the upper body strength of men, I'd be all for it.

BUT, current women are given far easier PT tests and biology shows us that women lag behind substantially with upper body strength, so I'm not at all for it.

The ridiculous PC nature of our society insists that a "watered down" test that allows women to enter the military is a reasonable way to get the "best" recruits.

We're supposed to believe that a male soldier and a female soldier are interchangeable.

...When no one in their right mind truly believes that.

Answer 21

It's not just PT standards, it's also how women react to high levels of stress.  Usually, women crumble in these extreme situations(like what they face in war).  Physical stress leads to mental stress and vice versa.  

And as pointed out, they have watered down PT standards.

Answer 22

Of course it does. Only the most qualified people should serve in direct combat roles, and if some of those people happen to be women, so be it.

Answer 23

why? it is hard enough for men to watch their friends die if a woman died every man would feel guilty because they have more abilities than her anyway even if a woman thinks she's strong emotionally in battle a woman would freak it's nature

Answer 24

I'm actually very interested in seeing how a entirely female infantry unit would fare in the field. I wonder how that would turn out.