Women in Combat
Women in Combat: What’s the Big Deal?
Thomas Haskins
ENG 121: English Composition I
Prof. Heather Peerboom
June 16, 2013
Women in Combat: What’s the Big Deal? There are many new occupations for women in the military, which will directly lead to women fighting in many combatant positions. Under the 1994 Pentagon policy, women were prohibited from being assigned to ground combat units below brigade level. Former US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, lifted the rule that restricted women from combat units. The DoD goal is to open about 237,000 positions to women by 2016. Right now there is a plan to validate a gender neutral physical standard that will enable the selection of the those best qualified for combat related positions and may reduce non-combat related injuries for both men and women (Lt. Col Platt 2013). So what’s the big deal? There haven’t been any problems in the last almost 238 years for the US Army. Why is it such a problem now? In my topic choice it is stated that there are over 250,000 jobs closed to women and it unfairly limits their career growth. It is now five months later and I haven’t seen to many women chomping at the bit to get one of those combat jobs that would greatly help their career. Not one woman has applied for Ranger school or Infantry yet. Now that these jobs have become open, why do they still remain female-free? Women have been serving in positions, which have put them in direct combat operations since the US started to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. I have fought and fired my weapon right next to female soldiers and I don’t believe that there should be any issue with women in combat positions. Hell, I have had some female soldiers that were harder workers than some of the male soldiers that served under me and would fight next to them any day. There are many other countries that have women that serve in all the same positions as men and have been doing so for years. Unlike the US
Thomas Haskins
ENG 121: English Composition I
Prof. Heather Peerboom
June 16, 2013
Women in Combat: What’s the Big Deal? There are many new occupations for women in the military, which will directly lead to women fighting in many combatant positions. Under the 1994 Pentagon policy, women were prohibited from being assigned to ground combat units below brigade level. Former US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, lifted the rule that restricted women from combat units. The DoD goal is to open about 237,000 positions to women by 2016. Right now there is a plan to validate a gender neutral physical standard that will enable the selection of the those best qualified for combat related positions and may reduce non-combat related injuries for both men and women (Lt. Col Platt 2013). So what’s the big deal? There haven’t been any problems in the last almost 238 years for the US Army. Why is it such a problem now? In my topic choice it is stated that there are over 250,000 jobs closed to women and it unfairly limits their career growth. It is now five months later and I haven’t seen to many women chomping at the bit to get one of those combat jobs that would greatly help their career. Not one woman has applied for Ranger school or Infantry yet. Now that these jobs have become open, why do they still remain female-free? Women have been serving in positions, which have put them in direct combat operations since the US started to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. I have fought and fired my weapon right next to female soldiers and I don’t believe that there should be any issue with women in combat positions. Hell, I have had some female soldiers that were harder workers than some of the male soldiers that served under me and would fight next to them any day. There are many other countries that have women that serve in all the same positions as men and have been doing so for years. Unlike the US