Women in Combat

AZZenny · September 28th, 2006, 01:22 PM

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MILWAUKEE (Sept. 28) - At 52, Sgt. 1st Class Merideth Howard worked hard to keep up with comrades half her age.

While at home on leave from Afghanistan in February, she told her husband she wasn't satisfied with her ability to take apart and reassemble her M-16 rifle as per Army regulations. So the couple bought a civilian version for her to use for practice. Within four days she could do it flawlessly - blindfolded.

Howard, a turret gunner in the Army Reserve's 405th Civil Affairs Battalion, became on Sept. 8 the oldest female U.S. soldier killed in action since military operations began in Afghanistan. A car bomber slammed into her vehicle, killing her and Staff Sgt. Robert Paul, 43, of The Dalles, Ore.

Howard held undergraduate and master's degrees in marine biology. When she discovered she was prone to seasickness, she switched careers and became a firefighter in Bryan, Texas, becoming the city's first female firefighter in 1978. She was about 5-foot-4 but she made up for her size with determination and a strength that matched her burly co-workers, recalled Bryan Fire Department Chief Mike Donoho.

Of the 66 women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, 51 are 30 or younger, according to Judy Bellafaire, chief historian for the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C. Four women, aged 41 to 44, were the oldest casualties before Howard.

Howard's friends and family say she knew the risks when she joined the Army Reserves in 1988. She planned to retire in two years at the 20-year mark, they say.

"She knew that was her responsibility," said Lorraine Stevenson, a cousin from Corpus Christi. "She called me and said, 'I'll go and do the very best I can and I'll see you in a year.' She was never a person to complain."

I've been doing some reading on women in the military, and the recent history of the politics on this -- interesting, more US military officers have come aroundas they need more technical specialists and more volunteer bodies, and the hard-line Christian right is most aggressively opposed.

While often cited as integrating women into the military, Israel long ago gave up the idea of drafting women into combat roles, due to upper body strength issues, and to the deliberate mutilation of female casualties by Arab enemy in the earlier wars -- but other than a few clearly-defined combat roles that require significant upper body strength, women now can apply for any role in the military. They do not modify the physical requirements at those levels.

But as one new US book points out, the issue of women in combat roles -- which no country currently allows -- has become totally meaningless in asymmetrical war. There is no defined combat zone, for one thing, since roadside and urban ambushes are routine; medical personnel are routinely targetted; and as has always been the case, 'support' positions are never that far from combat, and if overrun, 'support' personnel have to know how to fight.

In addition, the combat units, including Special Ops, have found that having females on urban and village patrols is essential if they are entering Muslim homes or buildings. It diminishes a combustible level of hatred and terror if there are women in the home, and it is the only way the Army can interview or interrogate local women -- who often drop important hints either naively or deliberately. So even though they are not 'combat trained,' it is common for women to be specifically ordered to accompany troops on dangerous missions.

The Marines probably do it right -- they have separate, all-female boot camp with female drill sgts -- very, very smart move. Marine women are all combat-trained to at least a basic level, assuming they may be thrust into a defensive combat role at some point.

nidan · September 28th, 2006, 03:11 PM

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but other than a few clearly-defined combat roles that require significant upper body strength

Hence the "if they can do the job" caviat, this includes not changing the standards

jenna2891 · September 28th, 2006, 03:32 PM

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Originally Posted by nidan

Hence the "if they can do the job" caviat, this includes not changing the standards

exactly.

AzCards21 · September 28th, 2006, 03:35 PM

Nothing scarier than an armed woman. Send 'em in.

Oh, and let them drive too. A woman driving a hummer packing an M-16? Are you kidding me? What terrorist in the world is going to get anywhere near that.

82CardsGrad · September 28th, 2006, 03:38 PM

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Originally Posted by AzCards21

Nothing scarier than an armed woman. Send 'em in.

Oh, and let them drive too. A woman giving a hummer packing an M-16? Are you kidding me? What terrorist in the world is going to get anywhere near that.

Oh yeah!!

Linderbee · September 28th, 2006, 04:07 PM

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Originally Posted by 82CardsGrad

Oh yeah!!

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...EWS01/60927040

40yearfan · September 28th, 2006, 07:14 PM

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Originally Posted by Linderbee

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...EWS01/60927040

Hmmm, I wonder if I could get a copy of that CD so I could see for myself. Hate to pass judgement on something without seeing it first.

40yearfan · September 28th, 2006, 07:14 PM

If women can do the job, more power to em.

Chris_Sanders · September 28th, 2006, 07:17 PM

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Originally Posted by 82CardsGrad

Oh yeah!!

Just as long as it is not the president...

jenna2891 · September 28th, 2006, 08:11 PM

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Originally Posted by Chris_Sanders

Just as long as it is not the president...

you don't want the president to give hummers?

Chris_Sanders · September 28th, 2006, 08:24 PM

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Originally Posted by jenna2891

you don't want the president to give hummers?

LOL!!

The leader of the free world should be able to give or receive whatever hummer he wants.

jenna2891 · September 28th, 2006, 08:27 PM

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Originally Posted by Chris_Sanders

LOL!!

The leader of the free world should be able to give or receive whatever hummer he wants.

that's what she said! ...or he said.

Folster · September 28th, 2006, 10:52 PM

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Originally Posted by nidan

Hence the "if they can do the job" caviat, this includes not changing the standards

Military standards are already lowered for women.

Southpaw · September 29th, 2006, 04:18 AM

Only men and women over the age of 60 should be eligible for combat duty in foreign excursions. They make the " go to war " decisions, let them walk the talk.

An all volunteer geriatric combat force. If that does not muster then draft the enablers.

CaptTurbo · September 29th, 2006, 04:29 AM

I only ever met one woment hat could pass the army PT test on the mens standard.

I say if they can meet that standard thn ok, but that is essentially saying no, women should not be in the military.

Thye can do non comabt MOS's but how fair is that?