Women now barred from elite Army reconnaissance

Scripps Howard News Service via seattlepi.com ^ | 7/4/02 | Lisa Hoffman

[GeneD]

WASHINGTON -- The Army has slammed shut a door previously open to women soldiers, barring female GIs from an elite reconnaissance role.

Until now, women had been welcomed into squadrons slated to become key "eyes and ears" of the Army's future fighting force. Thirteen had joined the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadrons, based at Fort Lewis, Wash.

But now the Army is reassigning those women GIs to other units and shutting the "tip-of-the-spear" squadrons to women.

The reason: The service says the units will be directly involved in ground combat -- from which women soldiers are banned by a 1994 Pentagon policy on women in war.

Although the closing of the reconnaissance squadrons affects a tiny percentage of the 72,200 women in the Army, those who advocate greater parity for women in the military view it as a symbolic blow.

"It appears that the Bush administration is engaged in an effort to revisit issues involving women's assignments in the military," retired Army Col. Pat Jernigan said in an online interview. "It seems very odd that, while there are serious issues involving the ability of U.S. military forces to respond to (world) threats, the focus is on narrowing the assignments of women based on reasons that at best seem outdated."

The rollback comes on the heels of another Pentagon move interpreted by those advocates as also a step back in terms of opening more battlefield roles for female GIs.

In the spring, Undersecretary of Defense David Chu signed off on a wholesale reform of the Defense Advisory Committee of Women in the Services, an advisory panel for 53 years that recently had been pushing for more opportunities for women in uniform.

During the Clinton administration, the committee was influential in opening Navy warships and Air Force warplane cockpits to women for the first time and in battling sexual harassment in the ranks.

Under the panel's new charter, its focus will shift to family and quality-of-life issues such as child care, housing and the effects of frequent family separations.

The shift in roles of the new reconnaissance units also led to banishing women from them, the Army says.

As planning progressed for the Army's transformation into a leaner, faster and more mobile combat force, the function of the units evolved toward more potential front-line duty than originally envisioned, the Army said.

Slated to go into operation next year, the units are made up mostly of scouts, intelligence and communication specialists whose job is to gather information about enemy forces and targets.

The removal of the women GIs and the reorientation of the women's committee count as coups for the Center for Military Readiness and its director, Elaine Donnelly, longtime opponents of allowing women in combat. Donnelly vigorously lobbied Pentagon and other leaders on both issues.

But to Jernigan, the changes are steps back for women.

"The key test to me is, are the soldiers qualified and are they doing the job?" Jernigan said. "If so, then don't mess with success."

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"The Army has slammed shut a door previously open to women soldiers"

Doesn't this sound more like an editorial by an impassioned feminist then the "straight news" that it purports to be?

[LibWhacker]

. . . are the soldiers qualified and are they doing the job . . .

No. But when Gloria Steinem can carry a 180lb wounded man 4 miles through hilly terrain in the jungle in one hour, the Army will be glad to reconsider.

[First_Salute]

Last four 5K runs I observed, which are a fairly good snapshot of the average woman on the street who is in good condition, indicated that women did not lead nor did they lead as a pack.

[Polonius]

The president should abolish, not reform, the Defense Advisory Committee of Women in the Services. There's simply no room for PC lobbying in the military.

[Jeff Chandler]

These are the men who drop in behind enemy lines to paint the targets. Could you imagine womyn commandos traipsing around a moslem country? Give me a break!

[Eagle Eye]

No. But when Gloria Steinem can carry a 180lb wounded man 4 miles through hilly terrain in the jungle in one hour, the Army will be glad to reconsider.

I couldn't do that in my EIB prime!

[CIB-173RDABN]

"It appears that the Bush administration is engaged in an effort to revisit issues involving women's assignments in the military," retired Army Col. Pat Jernigan said in an online interview.

---

They thought they already won, I am pleased that this administration is “revisiting” this issure.

Woman have no place in combat.

While it is true that some individual woman, could out perform some individual men, as a whole, they are not suited for it takes to be involved in the business of killing people and breaking things. And I am not sure I want to live in a society that think they are.

[big'ol_freeper]

I can not confirm nor can I deny that I believe the Army made the correct decision.

[Amerigomag]

those who advocate greater parity for women in the military view it as a symbolic blow

Yes Lisa we understand your position. Now if we could only equate your position with reality your article might be more newsworthy.

[Grig]

Of course we all know the real reason was the female spys would discover something, then run to a phone and tell all her friends first. :)

[BenR2]

The issue, if we are to be honest, is more than simply meeting physical standards. My son completed Navy Dive School with a woman in his class. Less than half of the orginial candidates survived. The woman candidate survived.

To its credit, the Navy Dive School in question held the woman to IDENTICAL physical standards (including pull-ups, push-ups, and running times) as the male candidates. My son says she easily and ably met the standards. Not only was she smart and attractive, she was very tough. She is one of a VERY small handful of women ever to have completed Navy Dive School. However, please NOTE: Navy Dive School (with the exception of the SEAL school) is NOT a COMBAT COURSE. It is designed to train underwater repairmen.

STILL, as I told my son, no matter HOW tough she is, she does not belong in a combat position. The issue is NOT physical prowess, as in her case, she clearly had the stuff in terms of physical prowess.

The ISSUE is "chemistry" or unit integrity, or, in simple terms, "male-to-male bonding." Women do not belong in combat units, period.

However, we could possibly take a page from the Israelis. They use women who are able to master combat MOSes to TRAIN MEN in COMBAT skills. They have found that women teaching marksmanship, e&e, and battlefield techniques has worked quite well.

Contrary to popular misconception, the Israelis don't place women in their elite comat units, such as the Golani Brigade (roughly comparable to our 82d Airborne), although they may use women to TRAIN the men in such units.

[Yasotay]

I think the most I did was carry a guy about a klick in Fla at Ranger School.

[Guillermo]

That was the first thing I thougt.

No slant here, nah.

[jackliberty]

However, we could possibly take a page from the Israelis. They use women who are able to master combat MOSes to TRAIN MEN in COMBAT skills.

A few years ago, I read that Israel had gender integrated combat units in their war of independence. The practice was discontinued when a study after the war showed that these units took (and gave) higher casualties than men only units with similar responsibilities. The discrepancy was not explained.

[uncbob]

They don't belong on ships or submarines either

[cubreporter]

"The need to know." :)

[cubreporter]

I know I shouldn't have laughed at that line but...I did. It WAS funny.

[Bringbackthedraft]

As an old soldier with many years of service, I witnessed the degrading of the Army. Many of my contemporaies left because the old army was turned into mush. Too much PC, not enough good tough training. This co-ed basic training era was the last straw for most of us. What was our former Prez WJC thinking to place women in positions of eminent danger? Did he think the male troops would thank him for providing foxhole booty calls by voting for him? See the name I use, when it ended, it was't the same.

[LibWhacker]

Me either. Not even close. Set the bar high! :-)