Article by Marcia Kaye, The Star, Feb. 8, 2011 -
Now that the U.S. Senate has voted to do away with the ban on openly gay troops, the focus is suddenly swerving to another group that has long been the target of discrimination in the American military: Women.
The U.S. defence department bans women from serving in on-the-ground combat units, such as the infantry, armour and special forces. This may surprise those who thought the 1997 Hollywood movie G.I. Jane — remember the bald, foul-mouthed machine-gun-toting Demi Moore who liked to “blow s--- up”? — was based on a real story. (It wasn’t.)
It may also surprise some Canadians — and likely many Americans — that Canada has allowed women into all military trades, including combat arms, for 22 years. The only exception was submarine service, a final bastion that fell in 2001. About a dozen other countries also allow women into active ground combat roles, including Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, France, Germany, Serbia, New Zealand and Israel.
But the United States doesn’t. At least, that’s the official policy. The reality is that it’s happening anyway. In Iraq and Afghanistan, officers don’t formerly “assign” women to combat units; they “attach” them, which skirts the policy while exposing the women to the same dangers as the men.
American women can patrol perilous areas as military police, but not as infantry. Female officers can lead men into battle, but aren’t supposed to serve alongside them. The sad irony is that in modern-day wars, where battles take place on street corners and in marketplaces, the combat ban doesn’t shield women at all — except from job titles, personal satisfaction and future promotions that ensue directly from officially documented combat experience.
Continued:
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/930155--u-s-to-allow-women-into-combat-a-move-canada-made-decades-ago
