| | Women in combat and natural limitsJanuary 25, 2013 - Andrea JohnsonA couple of stories caught my attention this week: allowing women in combat and requiring schools to open sports to the disabled. The Pentagon announced on Thursday that it will end a ban on women serving in close-combat positions in infantry and armored units. One argument in favor of this is that women are already seeing combat to some extent, even though they have been serving in auxiliary positions. Officially opening up combat positions will probably also allow more women in the military the opportunity to gain promotions and attain higher ranks in all branches of the armed forces. I can see some potential problems with this policy change as well. Time had an interesting article that quoted actual statistics comparing women in the military to men. Based on its own statistics, women are hospitalized 30 percent more than men in the military, even when you take out the number of women hospitalized for pregnancy and delivery. The average woman in the military also does not have the upper-body strength that a man in the military has. This would be potentially hazardous on the battlefield if a woman is called upon to haul an injured comrade to safety. I would say that any woman who is put in a combat position ought to have to meet the same physical requirements as the men. Any woman who isn't strong enough to be out there is liable to get herself and the other members of her unit killed. If standards are lowered to make it easier for women to enter those combat positions, the men in the unit will likely resent it and unit cohesion will be undermined. There's probably also a greater chance that any female in combat who is taken prisoner might be raped or sexually assaulted by the enemy, though I suppose that's one of the many risks that women in the military knowingly take on when they join. If they know that's a risk and still want to go into combat, I don't think that possibility alone should prevent it. The Obama administration is also requiring school districts to open up extracurricular sports to students with disabilities. USA Today cited the case of a Maryland wheelchair athlete who competed in the 2004 Paralympics in Atlanta but had to sue the school to be able to join her high school track team. I wonder how that worked if the girl was competing against athletes who weren't in wheelchairs. What if her racing wheelchair was so fast that it actually gave her an unfair advantage, for instance? Reasonable accommodations can probably be made in a lot of cases to let an otherwise capable athlete with a disability compete. As USA Today noted, that might include using a flashing light that goes off at the same time as a starter pistol to alert a deaf track athlete that the race has started. In other cases, it could get expensive or difficult. Would a school have to let a kid who uses a wheelchair play on the basketball team with other athletes, for instance? The same article mentioned providing "unified teams" made up of students with disabilities and those without them. Would such a team have to be the varsity team or would it satisfy requirements for it to be an intramural team? Advocates are cheering both these moves because they open up opportunities for people who have previously been denied to them. However, I think there are also problems with policies that fail to recognize natural limits, like the difference in strength between a woman and a man and the difference in the abilities of an athlete with a disability and one without one. Article Comments(14)EarlyBirdFeb-07-13 12:18 PM Just to let you know I have been to Arlington Cemetery and countless women have died in war. Maybe we should stop the killing somewhere/sometime and agree that women are the most valuable resource we have and protect them. EarlyBirdFeb-07-13 12:14 PM Well without a doubt women feel the same patriotism as men do and many also may feel they would like to be able to participate in bloody wars and battles. Now this is how I really feel about women in combat.... As a country we already send what could be considered children to war, adults under 21, and if we send our women to war also what the heck is there left to fight for. With the women and children away at war we have nothing to protect. EarlyBirdFeb-04-13 8:17 AM It will probably go good until we see the first one get her head cut off. Or raped and sent home pregnant with a little terrorist baby in her. I respect women to much to put them in that kind of danger. WorriedAmericanJan-29-13 9:15 PM It was a feeble attempt of making a joke. I wasn't serious about it. I would really like to get a the female military point of view on it though. Hope4ChangeJan-29-13 3:47 PM I'm not suggesting anything at all to you Worried as you like to take anything out of context for whatever reason that is. In WW2 the Russian had squards of women and really in combat there is no knowing what gender your target is at say 200 yards. They had hundreds of snipers too that were awarded medals. If we have to come down to women in combat they will be separated from the men but I just wonder how those pregancys would stop anyway. Do your own research for a change and you just might learn something. Hope that I helped you. WorriedAmericanJan-29-13 2:48 PM h4c are you suggesting a special forces squad made up solely of women? What would they be called PMS :-) WorriedAmericanJan-29-13 1:43 PM I would like to hear some opinions from female Vietnam Vets that had to deal with the horrors of war. What do they think about their gender the opportunity to fight along with the men in combat? WorriedAmericanJan-29-13 1:38 PM So you don't believe in Afghanistan where women and men have been working together over long tours in battlefield type conditions isn't evidence that it could work? Hope4ChangeJan-28-13 9:12 PM Why airlift any seamen or seawoman off an aircraft carrier? It has a hospital on board that surpasses those found anywhere in North Dakota. Then all we have to do is install a neo-natal section. While at it a day care center to fit the needs of the mothers and fathers on board. I’m sure there is always pauses in combat situations that a little extra curricular activity can be found. War is h#%l and we just might to like it(war) if it wasn’t. AndreaJohnsonJan-28-13 2:13 PM There are other biological facts that I suspect aren't being taken completely into account. When you put a bunch of young women together in close quarters under stressful conditions with young men, you probably end up with a lot of pregnant women. One of the articles I saw on this topic noted the number of women who have to be airlifted off naval carriers when their pregnancies become too advanced. People in combat positions probably have limited options for entertainment during their off hours. Hope4ChangeJan-28-13 1:16 PM Women in this country have been pushing for equal rights and let them have it here on the battlefield too. I would suggest separation however, in say company and regimental commands. Keep them separate from the men(probably impossible) as was the case in WW11 segration. The Japanese American soldier proved in the field to do a superb job as well as the black airmen from Tuskegee, Al. for example. I’m just reporting from history and personally believe it was discriminatory. If a company of women came screaming at me I would probably raise my hands and plead for mercy. ;-) WorriedAmericanJan-27-13 9:26 PM No one has commented about the women in combat? What are the military experts take on this? Post a Comment | in: News, Blogs & Events Web |
