Women in Combat
Women in CombatThe idea of women in combat is not unusual anymore.
They should be able to hold combat positions beacause
although physical strength matters, the military still
needs the intelligence that women can bring. Also,
banning women from the combat hurts their military careers.
Although women account for only ten percent of the
enlisted personnel (Time, 8/21/95/ Pg. 31), they
are still a major part in the armed forces. Their
performance recently has generated support from Congress and
the public for enhancing the role of females in the military.
During the Persian Gulf War, women were sent to the
Middle East to fly helicopters, service combat jets,
refuel tankers, and load laser-guided bombs. Their
performance has led the world to realize that women
are extremely useful in combat. Defense secretary Dick
Chaney said “Women have made a major contribution to
this [war] effort. We could not have won without them.”
Leaders in the field agreed. The Gulf War had the largest
deployment of women in the armed forces in history. These
women encountered the same risks as the men they served with.
Twenty one females lost their lives (Holm, Women in
Combat: The New Reality, pg. 67-68).
In the Persian Gulf, there were no exact
positions and all areas were equally vulnerable,
so the idea of safe havens for women was not really
applicable. By many armed forces policies,
females are banned from combat jobs and units,
but in the Persian Gulf War females were assigned
to battleships, aircraft carriers, and marine
support groups dug into the desert. From
their experience in the Persian Gulf, military women
have earned the right to be treated as equals with
men and not as protected individuals.
In spite of their record as able combat personnel, there
are laws and policies that restrict women in the United
States Military from serving in positions that require
them to engage in direct combat. Women in the Air
Force and Navy are barred from aircraft and vessels that
have a chance to be exposed to combat. The official,
established policies of the Army and Marine Corps exclude
women from combat (Snyder,...
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