Women In Combat Arms Roles Research Project

[Will1701]

Hello Rangers, last spring I did a research project on the recent decision to allow women into combat arms roles. I learned a whole lot and am very thankful for all the responses I received on a thread I created. Below is a reflection/report of my findings:

While researching both sides to the argument as to whether women belong in our military’s combat arms roles I have learned a lot. Both sides of the debate are very passionate about getting their way especially when it comes to current service members whose units will be impacted by the federal government’s decision to integrate women across all combat arms roles from infantry to the Army’s Special Operations Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment. In order to get direct feedback from former combat arms soldiers I was able to create a thread on ArmyRanger.com.

After my initial creation of a thread that would serve as a place for former combat arms members to post their thoughts, I began to receive some excellent feedback. With one of my initial posts on the thread I mentioned how I was of the opinion that women should be left out of the infantry, but it could potentially be a good idea to integrate women into roles such as artillery, which are usually not right up and close with the enemy. One of the Rangers responded with specifics as to how this would not be a good idea such as bringing up the weight of artillery shells and other factors I had not previously thought about. One very interesting point made was how men and women compete separately at a professional level and that’s just with playing a game. The other Rangers who responded provided some excellent reasoning behind keeping women out of the infantry that furthered my knowledge behind my perspective.

One of the biggest topics about women in the military is if women are really as capable as men. With this in mind I found some crucial statistics to understanding this subject. ---Men average 26 pounds more muscle mass than women; women exhibit 40% less upper body strength and 33% less lower body strength. Grip strength: 90% of women scored lower than 95% of men; even top female athletes had worse grip strength than 75% of men. Fastest woman in the world 100-meter dash time is 10.49 seconds; this time would not even qualify her for the men’s 2016 Olympics.--- These are definitely some important facts for both sides of the debate to understand.

I also had to understand the history behind women in the military. I did find numerous examples of women who have served proudly in ‘combat’, but in the vast majority of the cases combat found these women, they did not go looking for it, which is the job of the infantry. With the global war on terror, the U.S. military has had to adapt in order to meet cultural standards in places such as Afghanistan where it is not acceptable for a male infantryman to search an Afghan woman. With this difficulty, Female Engagement Teams were initiated and women would be ‘attached’, not assigned, to all male infantry and Special Operations units when out in the field dealing with a local populous. In this instance women were brought in to do a job where they were needed. It is commonly known that the infantry does not need women.

Much of those who believe integrating women is a good idea point to the requirements and say that if females can meet them then there is no reason for them to not be in the unit, when in reality I learned that the situation is not so black and white. One of the more important requirements to become an infantryman is to be able to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test; however, as I learned from Rangers this does not assess a soldier well for his capability in the infantry. Surely some women will be able to pass the standards, but many veterans are worried about what will happen when they need to carry a two-hundred pound man with sixty pounds of gear off a battlefield while bullets are flying. From direct feedback I heard the straight up truth that the requirements will let women in who will not be able to be successful on the battlefield.

One thing that is clear about this debate is that it is not black and white, there are numerous variables that need to be considered when addressing the subject of having women in the infantry. If there is one certainty, it is that any decision that will change our military must be one that will not harm it.

[fatboy]

Thanks for coming back with your findings. It's nice to have some follow up.

Out of curiosity, how did your peers/ teacher react to your conclusions?

[Grim666]

Another question did you find the report from the Marines test of integrating women and if so, how did that help you?

[Will1701]

Ranger Fatboy,
My peers found the facts I presented to be very interesting and felt that I made a good case. My teacher, however, still seemed to be on the side that women should be allowed into combat arms roles. Unfortunately, he's one of those equality at all costs types who doesn't care so much about the facts when it comes to equality debates, but I do think I really got him thinking. Thank you again Ranger Fatboy for your contributions to the thread I created to get input from Rangers.

Ranger Grim666,
I definitely found the Marine Corps study to be very helpful and it proved to be an excellent source of evidence for how women would handle combat arms roles. It was an excellent source to refer to during my presentation to the class.

Thank you Rangers.