Argumentative Essay: Should Women Be In Combat?

Should women be in Combat?

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 prevents any women from serving in combat. In January of 2013, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, after receiving a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to lift this ban and open combat roles to women. However, there is some speculation on whether or not women are physically capable of performing in combat jons. Nindl states that “… the physiological differences that exist in physical capacity, particularly of muscular strength and power as well as the increased incidence rate for musculoskeletal injuries in female vs. male soldiers, have led some to question the wisdom of rescinding the policy” (Nindl 50). With these key physiological differences

If you look at Appendix 1, you can see the minimum a soldier must meet at both boot camp and AIT. By looking at these charts you can see the unfair scoring between men and women. The only area that both genders are scored the same is the Sit-Up portion of the test (Smith). By looking at the scores among the armed forces, you can tell that women are considered to be physically weaker than men. These scores, however, do not show physical proof of how women score when this test is given. There is a chance in each cycle of basic training that some women score above the minimum for women. In our world today, we have the Feminist group, that fight for equal rights for women in todays society. You would believe that this idea of equal rights for women would carry on to the military, right? Wrong, there is inner turmoil on this idea amongst the group. Linda Rothstein states that “In the Nation article, Annette Fuentes points out that women’s rights activists do not all agree that the right to participate in combat is desirable (Rothstein 7).” If women’s rights activist groups can’t agree on the idea of women in combat, then should the idea be pushed forward? Does this internal fight amongst women’s activist’s groups cause the speculation that women only want equality in certain areas of the everyday world? Even, amongst the ranks of women in the military, there is

“Air force and navy pilots-officers who see their career paths blocked-want the rules changed. Enlisted women who serve on the ground are less enthusiastic (Rothstein 7).” This problem of not having like-mindedness amongst the women in the armed forces shows that, maybe the idea of women in combat should be pushed back, until the like-mindedness is achieved.

Although the majority of women do not want to perform in combat, on August 2015, this changed. The Pentagon and the Army Ranger School opened the doors for women to volunteer and compete to become part of the elite Army Rangers.

The well-known Army Rangers are known for their punishing training that very few men can pass. Last year, the Pentagon and the Army Rangers, decided to take women volunteers. This decision was made due to the fact that the Pentagon is wanting to open up combat roles to women. When the first cycle that allowed women to volunteer for the course opened in April 2015, nineteen women decided to enter the course. Of those nineteen women, eleven failed to complete the first four-day phase of the course, leaving only eight women left to move on to the next phase in Ft. Benning, Georgia (Michaels). According to Jim Michaels, “All eight women vying to become the first female Army Rangers failed to complete the requirements to go on to the next phase of the grueling course.”