Women In Combat

Women in Combat

Women in combat is an issue that I believe should be given a little more thought and attention. I personally feel that women should be allowed to be in ground combat operations if they desire to do so. I do not feel that it is fair to exclude someone from performing a job within the military simply due to their gender. I do feel that women who want to go to combat should be able to perform the same physical tasks as the men currently in those positions.

This issue hits close to home for me since my husband served four years active duty in the Army and I myself was in ROTC during my first two years of college. During those two years I was on a very strict physical fitness program and was able to perform with the same standards as the men. I do not feel that if I had continued to pursue my career as a woman in the Army that I should have been excluded from certain jobs just because of my gender.

In Lucinda Joy Peach’s essay, Women at War-The Ethics of Women in Combat [Part 1 of 7] she states that as far back as the Revolutionary War there have been women who have served in the military and in combat positions. During World War II, women served as nurses on the battlefield. Most women were discharged from service after WWII ended, however in 1948 Congress passed the Integration of Women in the Armed Forces Act which created permanent places for women in the military for the first time. This did limit the percentage of women that were allowed to enlist and excluded women from combat positions (Peach 1).

In Martha McSally’s, Women in Combat: Is the Current Policy Obsolete? she cites the Department of Defense policy on excluding women from combat which defines “direct combat” as “engaging an enemy on the ground with individual or crew served weapons, while being exposed to hostile fire and to a high probability of direct physical contact with hostile force's personnel. Direct ground combat takes place well forward on the battlefield while locating and closing with the enemy to defeat them by fire, maneuver, and shock effect” (McSally 1014). This policy was last revised in 1994, since then many things have changed in how our country conducts battle. The battle lines are no longer existent. The battlefield is now more of a battle zone. I do not feel that we should still be following guidelines that were last revised fourteen years ago.

According to Lucinda Joy Peach in part two of her essay Women at War-The Ethics of Women in Combat, there are primarily three ethical perspectives on women in combat to include the ethic of accountability, care and justice. The ethic of accountability and care both support the combat exclusion, but for different reasons. Accountability stating that women are �not good enough’ and care because they are �too good.’ Allowing women to serve in combat roles on the basis of equal qualifications is the belief behind the ethic of justice (Peach 1).

Lucinda Joy Peach in Women at War-The Ethics of Women in Combat [Part 2 of 7] states that the arguments behind the ethic of accountability are that women would create a lower level of effectiveness in combat as well as undermine the male bonding process. It is also believed that women are not physically able to perform the same as men and that their ability to become pregnant makes them less desirable to be in combat (Peach 1).

It is believed that women would interfere with combat effectiveness by slowing mobilization in times of deployment. They would also interfere with the “male bonding” process that is suggested in Lucinda Joy Peach’s essay Women at War-The Ethics of Women in Combat [Part 2 of 7] to be vital to combat effectiveness. Women would also lower effectiveness by serving as a sexual distraction from the mission to the men. This would cause more fraternization (Peach 2). I don’t personally believe that mobilization or the male bonding process would be compromised. I believe that there is another aspect to look at here, female-male and female-female bonding. It shouldn’t matter the sex of the person that you are bonding with. It should have more to do with the mutual trust and respect that is being created. I do however, agree with the sexual fraternization aspect. When you put men and women together it’s only a matter of time before our natural desires are acted upon. I feel this could cause problems for the men as well as for the women if allowed to be there with jealousy and resentment. Neither emotion would be good to have while on the battlefield. The soldiers need to have their mind fully on the task at hand.

The belief that women are incapable to meet the physical rigors necessary for ground combat has remained unchanged over the years even though evidence has been provided that proves otherwise. There are some military reports to show that some women have the upper body strength to meet the standards for combat. I believe it should be stated that there are women that are stronger than some men. Not all men are cut out to be in combat, but any man that wanted to do the job would be allowed to do so if he could meet the minimum physical standards. I don’t feel that is fair.

The ability for a women to become pregnant has been cited in Lucinda Joy Peach’s essay Women at War-The Ethics of Women in Combat [Part 2 of 7] as a reason for not allowing women into combat positions. Pregnancy cannot be predicted and can severely disrupt combat operations. The Army does not provide replacements for pregnant soldiers while they are temporarily off duty. This could cause a shortage in soldiers and an increase in the work load for the other soldiers of the unit. The increase in work load may cause resentment (Peach 3). I believe this so far and fraternization could be major reasons that I may change my thinking on this topic. I would not want to be in combat and become pregnant myself or have to pick up the slack for another women that became pregnant. On the other hand, policy could be changed to allow for replacements of pregnant women as to not suffer a shortage in soldiers. Also, women are not pregnant all the time, if they become pregnant I believe they should be relieved of duty at least from combat. They could be assigned a position as far away from the action as possible or away from the battlefield entirely so as not to be in harms way.

The ethical argument for justice in this case is that there should be equal rights and responsibilities, equal protection of the laws, and basic fairness according to