Military Debates Policy That Excludes Women From Combat
Panel Looks at Issues of Morale, Recruitment and Promotion
By Lucy Nalpathanchil - WNPR
Published: Jan 13, 2011
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Sgt. Christina Phillips and her daughter Jasmine
Photo:U.S. Army Photo
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Military Debates Policy That Excludes Women From Combat
A high ranking military commission is discussing the role of women in the military.
A panel of retired and active duty military officers are studying whether it's time to change combat rules that exclude women from the front lines. Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, many say the front lines are blurred considering servicewomen are attached to support combat units like in military convoys.
A recent exchange on the subject was heard on NPR's Morning Edition Thursday between commission member, retired Marine Lieutenant Frank Peterson and female veteran, Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs while serving in Iraq as an Apache helicopter pilot.
"Peterson: Here's my problem. we're talking about ground combat, nose to nose with the bad guys, living in the mud, no hygiene and no tv. How many of you would volunteer to live like that? Duckworth: I've lived like that. I've lived out there with the guys, and I would do it. It's about the job."
Duckworth now serves as the Undersecretary of the federal department of Veteran Affairs.
Connecticut's VA commissioner, Linda Schwartz says the Lieutenant General's question to Duckworth shows how the military still has misperceptions about the roles today's servicewomen are already filling.
"That is a Marine Corps General asking a woman that's given a great deal of herself. And I talk about some of our own women, Connecticut National Guard. They are willing to be right next to our male counterparts, and this is the women of today. They were raised differently, they have more self-esteem, and more confidence in themselves than say the women who served in World War 2. The issue is they see themselves in an all volunteer force as equal."
The commission's report is due to Congress in mid-March but there's no saying when a change, if any, to the combat exclusion policy will come.
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Comments
Think more rigorously, and fact check.
This article is a mess.
Is Peterson a retired lieutenant or lieutenant general?
Duckworth was a UH-60 pilot, not AH-64.
As an aviator, Duckworth was not living like an infantryman, which is what Peterson is talking about. Infantrymen, and to a lesser degree other combat arms soldiers such as those in armor or artillery, live lives far physically harsher than aviators.
As for Schwartz, while women today may have more self-esteem than those of earlier generations (doesn't everyone?), they don't have any more physical strength. That's the real issue, not that NPR can figure that out.
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