Breaking News: Congress Addressing Women in Combat
May 11, 2005 | By Charmaine Yoest
Just got word: Congressional Republicans are finally moving to address the problems we've been highlighting with the new Army policy of assigning women to Forward Support Companies. I wrote about the FSC issue here. And the women in combat posts on one page can be found here.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Women soldiers in the U.S. Army would be barred from serving in combat support units under language added to a defense bill Wednesday. Proponents of the measure said it would affect only a small number of women, while opponents said over time, it would drastically alter the face of the modern army.The amendment sponsored by Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's military personnel subcommittee, would prohibit women from combat support and combat service support units.
``The current policy does not serve women well,'' said McHugh. ``The current policy places them in a company and treats them as equal until it's time to move forward and then they have to be left behind.''
The subcommittee voted along party lines to approve the amendment. The bill, setting Defense Department policy for next year, is expected to be debated by the full Armed Services Committee next week.
Full article from Newsday, here.
Thanks, Greyhawk, for Open Post and Outside the Beltway, for Traffic Jam.
Comments
Funny you should post that article... because on the very same day, StrategyPage.com published this one (it's short so I'm posting it in its entirety):
INFANTRY: Women Marines Assigned to Combat Units
May 11, 2005: American marines in Iraq have begun to regularly take female marines with them on some raids. The female marines are there mainly to search Iraqi women who are expected to be found in the raided location. Terrorists have taken to giving some weapons or other items to women they are with, to hide in their clothing. American troops often do not search Iraqi women, because this makes Iraqi men more hostile, and often enrages them, leading to a brawl during an otherwise uneventful raid. Both soldiers and marines have used female troops for searching Iraqi, or Afghan, women, but on a sporadic basis. But now, marine units have assigned female marines, who normally do support jobs, to regular raid duty. Thus the same women would operate with the same male infantrymen on a regular basis. This enables the women to work better with the male marines in case there is a fight. The raids are usually conducted using hummers, that quickly move into an area, the troops get out and rapidly gain entry to the target building and begin the search. Sometimes there are armed terrorists in there, who start shooting. So everyone in the raiding party has to be ready for a fight. The female marines get the same infantry training as the men, although in all-female boot camp companies, and maintain their infantry skills later. The women regularly see action during combat movements, and no one doubts their ability to handle themselves in combat. Most of the women assigned to the raiding duty are eager and enthusiastic about it, as boot camp drilled into everyone that the primary job of every marine was infantry combat. Source: http://www.strategypage.com//fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=HTINF.HTM
Posted by: kyer | May 13, 2005 10:20 AM