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William Cooper
4 November 2018
Since the time of hunter gatherers (a time when women carried out many tasks alongside
men), women have been viewed as weaker and not up to most physically and mentally
challenging tasks men carry out. In regards to the United States military, women have played the
role of nurses for wounded soldiers since the American Revolution. In the civil war, a small
handful of women dressed up as men in order to be able to fight for what they believed in. In
World War One, more than 12,000 women enlisted in the United States Navy and Marine Corps
filling up non-combatant roles, about 400 of them were killed. The standard had changed, and
the path to combat roles being open to women had begun being paved. In the Second World War
women's involvement skyrocketed, with large numbers of US women filling nursing and clerical
roles. However, between other countries nearly one million women filled combat roles, with
almost half of those being front line troops. “Women became officially recognized as a
permanent part of the armed forces with the passing of the Women’s Armed Services Integration
Act of 1948” (Freeman, 2009). During the Vietnam War, nearly 11,000 women were deployed to
Vietnam, and the majority served as nurses. Commander Elizabeth Barrett was the first
American woman to hold a command in a combat zone. Over the years women were still not
allowed into ground combat units, even though they had been allowed into Navy Warships and
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allowed to fly fighter jets. Women had even been shot at or killed in the Middle East serving
roles like Military police. This all changed in 2013 when the secretary of defense made an
announcement: “The militaries combat exclusion act will be rescinded” and on the 24th of
January 2016, this was followed through. “There will be no exclusions” said Secretary of defense
Ashton Carter. Our military has made many mistakes that cost the lives of many brave men,
Combat roles are defined by the US Army field manual as: Infantry- Boots on the ground,
the people that go in platoon sized elements, find the enemy, and kill them with small arms fire.
Field Artillery- Those that help infantry by shooting the big cannons at them. Air Defense
Artillery- They shoot enemy aircraft down. Armor- They drive tanks and other combat vehicles.
Combat Aviation- Attack helicopters and air cavalry units. For obvious reasons women have
been excluded from these roles due to their danger and the perception that women simply aren't
strong enough to withstand the grueling realities of these roles. Currently women are allowed to
hold virtually any other role other than these, including nursing, clerical, logistics, etc.
The argument used for women in combat is women add greater numbers to our fighting
force. The world is growing, and other militaries are adding more heads to their fighting forces.
They are doing this through mandatory military service as well as by integrating women into
combat roles. With these facts, statistically speaking to remain the dominant military force in the
world the integration of women into the combat roles is necessary. This is why other militaries in
the past have had to use women to strengthen their fighting forces, such as Russia in the second
World War when they used nearly 400,000 women to strengthen their fighting force. Their is
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also a smaller argument that women are better shots than men. Some argue their calmness
provides the ability to take better and more accurate shots. For example, a Russian female sniper
Women in combat is a full integration in to the military with no exceptions. That means
even the most elite units such as Army Ranger Regiments or Navy Seal teams. What most people
think of when it comes to women in combat roles however is women holding back men by being
too physically weak. The secretary of defense has said that while the integration will have no
exceptions, the standards will not change at all. Women will have to adhere to the exact same
standards as men. Secretary Carter made it very clear that the standards will not be lowered for
any reason.
The facts: are women really fit for these tough positions?
There are several sub questions to be answered in order to address this question. The first
being: Are women truly physically fit enough to compete? Statistically women are 40-60%
weaker than men when it comes to upper body strength. This can be a big problem when it
comes to military tasks such as loading hundreds of heavy artillery rounds used to fire at the
enemy to save infantry soldiers lives, it could mean a female struggling to scale a wall and
putting male counterparts at risk to help her over. It could also be a major problem when it
comes to hand to hand combat with the enemy. Women are also 25-30% weaker than men in
lower body strength such as marching under load when time is of the essence, this can mean
failing a mission. In tough military training environments women will be more prone to stress
fractures, pulled muscles and other overuse injuries of that sort. Finally, males also have 40%
greater aerobic capacity, which could mean not being able to move or run as fast or as long to or
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from dangerous situations. Again one can argue that the standards will be the same and if women
are going to be in combat roles they will train to the same standards, so the weak women, just
like the weak men will be weeded out for the good of themselves and those in combat. The
second question is: Are women mentally and emotionally stable enough to handle the ugly
side of war? Current research suggest that female combatants may need more social support
than males. “Female combatants may function better when they perceive sufficient support from
peers, friends, and families, while males may require less reliance on social support to buffer the
stresses of war” (Mcgraw, 2016). This leads to criticism from male peers being perceived as
rejection and can lead to many emotional problems within combat. Civilian women are also
reported to have twice the amount of PTSD as civilian men. Women can also differ in their
judgement, and it is a simple fact that women think differently and make decisions differently
than men. Women can sometimes freeze up under pressure and not be able to make sound
decisions when everything doesn't go to plan, which is in fact what happens every time the
bullets start to fly. Women also are much more likely to hold grudges than men, and let personal
conflicts get in the way of making sound decisions when lives are on the line. A final point
toward the psychological effects of war is that women are hormonal for one week of every
month. Deployments are 8-12 months long in combat zones which makes for 2-3 collective
months of a deployment spent in even more stressful conditions, with women battling roller
coaster hormones as well as the physical effects of menstruation. Some women use hormone
regulating forms of birth control in order to stop their periods, however these methods can lead
to weight gain, weakening of bones and other less than desirable side effects. Finally on the
subject of hormones, women can get pregnant, which makes them a liability in combat. In
stressful conditions it would be possible for a woman to go several months without even
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knowing that she is pregnant, which would lead to a waste of resources if she were deployed.
Resources would be used to get her there and more would be used to get her back early in order
to avoid risks to the pregnancy and risk to her fellow combatants. The third question is: Does
putting men and women in such an environment ask for issues in sexual relationships and
harassment? The answer to this question is yes, when you deploy men and women together for
a year it can lead to inappropriate sexual relationships. It can also increases the risk of sexual
assault and harassment due to the close quarters men and women will be in, which exist in the
military much more than any other profession due to the nature of staying weeks in the field
together. The fact is At least 32% of U.S. military women report having been sexually assaulted,
and up to 80% have been sexually harassed(Meade,2013). Keep in mind these statistics were
Conclusion
The viewpoint that women are needed in combat to match the growing global forces that have
already integrated women is a valid one. However statistically and biologically speaking women
are inferior to men in combat situations. There is research to prove this. These findings just
simply beg the questions: Is having women in combat better than not having them at all? And: Is
the integration of women truly to better our fighting force, or is it from a push for movements to
diversify and feminize the military just like the rest of society?
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Works cited
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cy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAkwwggJIBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggI5
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