RUNNING HEAD: AMERICAN WOMEN IN COMBAT

A New Age, American Women in Combat: A Literature Review Nikko Enriquez University of Texas at El Paso

AMERICAN WOMEN IN COMBAT Abstract

From ancient times, battle and wars have called upon men from every part of the world, like the Spartans of ancient Greece to the Aztec warriors, to fight in combat. This is also true in America, going back in history to when we fought for our independence from the British Empire in the 1770s to present day in Afghanistan. As womens right are changing, so are the regulations th at have restricted them for serving in combat Military Operational Specialties, MOS, and fighting in combat environments. This literature review will encompass some answers to questions that many Americans, both in the military and civilians, often talk about, women in combat. Research will be conducted through interviews and statistical data in the form of journals and articles has to why the policies are now allowing women to serve in combat MOSs and the ability to fight in combat.

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A New Age, American Women in Combat: A Literature Review From the American Revolutionary War to the present overseas operations, women have served an important part in all the branches of the United States Military. In the past, there were few positions that women were allowed to hold; some women were nurses, healing the ill and wounded, others were cooks or mess hands, preparing and serving meals for troops, and there were those communications operators manning the telegraphs and later radios and telephones. Today many women are serving the country in actual combat operations, sacrificing their lives for the freedom of American citizens. The new changes to current policies and regulations are not only allowing women to take part in combat, serving in Afghanistan on Female Engagement Teams or FET, they are also allowing women into combat Military Operational Specialties that were was off limits to women. Previous to the ban that prohibited women from serving in combat, women have already been serving in some combat positions, from piloting gunships to Female Engagement Teams with infantry units. Even with women serving on the front lines, higher military commands have continued to exclude them from officially serving in combat until recently. Many Americans, both in the military and civilians are being to raise arguments about the new policies that Congress has approved, 3 important questions that I will address are: 1. Should women be allowed to serve in combat and combat Military Occupational Specialties and why? 2. How do women perform against their male counterparts, both physically and mentally, in military training and actual combat?

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3. How the high commands of American military forces has influences what limitations are put on women while serving in the military? The following literature review will: provide information in regards to womens role in combat, discuss the abilities of women, and inform about how our government has restricted women from serving officially in combat and place many restrictions on what roles they can take part in. How do women perform against their male counterparts, both physically and mentally, in military training and actual combat? With policies that once prohibited women from officially participating in combat changing, the role of military women continues to grow as the new opportunities for joining combat Military Occupational Specialties and allowed to serve on the front lines of battle, many concerns are being raised. The men who are currently serving in these combat fields are most concerned with the performance of women who will join their ranks out on the battlefield. Are women able to perform at the current military readiness standards set for men and can they handle the added stress of combat? For this section of the literature review, I will analyze the question: How do women perform against their male counterparts, both physically and mentally, in military training and actual combat? starting with the physical abilities of women and men in military combat training. While the United States Congress has only recently allowed for women to officially participate in combat, many women who have served in the military has trained in combat related training events at least one time in their service careers. In the basic schools to turn who have served in the military has trained in combat related training events at least one time in their service careers. In the basic schools to turn civilians into soldiers and Marines, men and women

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have to complete tasks, some of which are combat fitness test to martial arts training designed for combat. Looking around the armed service branches today and you can see women who have completed their basic training, which included some form of combat training, gives credit to the women who do want to enter combat Military Occupational Specialties. For the first time women are now being allowed to go through infantry schools in the Army and Marine Corps. Last year, 15 women were allowed to volunteer to go through the Marine Corps infantry school located in North Carolina. According to David S. Cloud, a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, reported that, They had to pass the same physical screening as men, which includes doing three pull-ups, 50 crunches in two minutes and run three miles in 28 minutes. This physical screening is known to Marines as the Physical Fitness Test and are the lowest requirements to pass; to score a perfect 300, a Marine must complete 20 pull-ups, 100 crunches in two minutes and run three miles in 18 minutes which is much physically demanding to score high on. As the 15 women went through the 59 day course at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, some would voluntarily withdraw and others failed to complete tasks. In the end, only three enlisted female Marines: Private First Class Julia Caroll, Private First Class Christina Fuentes Montenegro and Private First Class Kate Gorz, complete the entire course and allowed to graduate. One out of five women, or 20 percent were able to handle the physical demands of the combat military training school. The average size of platoons going through the School of Infantry are between 60 and 70 Marines and have a failure rate of 15%. Much lower than that of the 15 women who went through the same training. As more women grow through combat training, the passing rate will improve and more women will be seen on foreign battle grounds. But can women mentally handle the stresses of combat?

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Even before the changes of the policies that regulated personal going into combat, women have been on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as many other places fighting alongside men. Female Engagement Teams are often attached to combat unit, going on patrols, even engaging in firefights. Radio operations often include women, participating in missions like calling for air support and calls for fire, controlling artillery fire. Women serving in a combat environment is nothing new and has been greatly researched. Through research conduct on the men and women who have been deployed, I will how they handle the stress of combat. With the physical demands of combat, many servicemen and women are stressed mentally, having to conduct long missions with little to no food and rest, constantly assessing different threats. According to Mark W. Hoglund and Rebecca M. Schwart, military doctors who have been studying recently deployed servicemen and womens mental health, suggests, that deployed women have a greater risk of depression than deployed men. Men have greater risk PTSD than women. Exposure to seeing dead bodies and witnessing death, are some factors that causes mental disorders, along with what branch a service member is in and whether they may be enlisted or commissioned, officers. Women often suffer from depression because of the physical stress and exposer to combat environments, but can transition back to garrison, or being back home much better than their male counterparts. Depression does not only affect women, some men also suffer from depression at a much lower number, but when returning to garrison life many will be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at a much higher rate according to their studies. Hoglund and Schwart concluded that even with depressing affecting women, women handle stress caused by combat environments better than men. With women able to pass the physical standards and complete combat schools and are able to handle the mental stress of combat, they should be allowed to continue serving in combat officially.

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Should women be allowed to serve in combat and combat Military Occupational Specialties and why? Combat Military Occupational Specialties and the ability to serve in combat in the past were reserved for men service members, with women limited to what jobs they can actually perform while serving in the military. With women physically able to complete combat training and handle the stress of combat why should they not be allowed? Today, women are allowed to serve officially with men out on the battlefield, which raises the question: Should women be allowed to serve in combat and combat Military Occupational Specialties and why? In this section of the literature review I will show the results of the survey and interviews I conducted as to what Americans, both in the services and civilians think about women serving in combat training and actually combat. For the survey, I asked 20 random people, 10 men and 10 women, to answer some questions about the issue of women in combat. The chart below are the results to the questions I asked.

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Women in Combat

Should women be allowed to serve in combat

With new policies allowing women o serve in combat, should women be included in the draft?

Have you served in the military?

1 Yes

3 No

11

13

15