Women in Combat: A Culture Issue

摘要

The Army has expanded the number of military occupational specialties (MOS) that women are allowed to fill. Some of these MOSs place women closer and closer to combat. Despite the fact that women are serving magnificently alongside their male counterparts in Iraq and are confronting the same degree of danger there is only limited support to allow women to serve in combat. Our current President as well as previous Presidents Clinton and Bush oppose assigning women to combat. President H. W. Bush also recommended that females continue to be excluded from combat roles including assignments on board combat ships. The Clinton Administration however approved a new policy to allow Army women to serve with some ground combat units during fighting. Such disparity between presidents proffers the notion that a cultural issue might be at the core of the issue as women may not be physically fit to handle the stress and the psychological emotions of combat. Is this a societal issue that reflects the American peoples unwillingness to accept women being killed in large numbers and possibly being subjected to horrifying treatment as prisoners of war. This paper will examine the role of women in combat from an Army prospective.