Report Says Few Army Women Want Combat Jobs

Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2014-02-27 04:34

Article here. Excerpt:

'Only a small fraction of Army women say they'd like to move into one of the newly opening combat jobs, but those few who do say they want a job that takes them right into the heart of battle, according to preliminary results from a survey of the service's nearly 170,000 women.

That survey and others across the Army, publicly disclosed for the first time to The Associated Press, also revealed that soldiers of both genders are nervous about women entering combat jobs but say they are determined to do it fairly. Men are worried about losing their jobs to women; women are worried they will be seen as getting jobs because of their gender and not their qualifications. Both are emphatic that the Army must not lower standards to accommodate women.

Less than 8 percent of Army women who responded to the survey said they wanted a combat job. Of those, an overwhelming number said they'd like to be a Night Stalker - a member of the elite special operations helicopter crews who perhaps are best known for flying the Navy SEALS into Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011.
...
Army officials also polled men and women on their concerns about the integration. And they asked senior female leaders to say whether they would have chosen combat jobs if they'd been given that chance 10 or 20 years ago.

All agreed the physical standards for the jobs should remain the same.

"The men don't want to lower the standards because they see that as a perceived risk to their team," David Brinkley, deputy chief of staff for operations at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, told the AP. "The women don't want to lower the standards because they want the men to know they're just as able as they are to do the same task."'

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... are none too appealing. I mean really, I wouldn't blame anyone for avoiding a combat MOS. But as I have said before, this whole thing's really about ticket-punching. If women REALLY have wanted for SO long to be in combat, why after thousands of years have some (and again, only a very small number) stood up and said: "We want the RIGHT to go into battle, to serve the interests of *whomever*, for good or bad, right or wrong, to risk life and limb, for a relative pittance for the task at hand! Please, ALLOW us to SERVE!"

No. Have yet to hear anything like that from any of the Capitol Hill Women's Club crowd. My guess is that they have far too many caucus meetings and luncheons to attend, and besides, are any one of them personally ready and willing to sign up for grunt school and hell or high water, get over to Afghanistan for the honor of enjoying chronic fear-induced insomnia, sudden, jolting explosions, and having to drop trou at 3:00 AM to take a dump in the sand while on some kind of watch or patrol, knowing full well that at any time you might get spotted and shot by some militant looking to add a notch to the stock of his AK-47? [No toilet paper, too: Another unpleasant feature.] No, like most people (yep, men too!) in such high offices, they're all about sending others to do the dirty work. Why trade K Street lobbyist-financed dinners and champagne receptions for going weeks without a shower (in the desert, no less), MREs and cans of soda left on pallets in the sun for days at a time and the attendant hazards of consuming same, and of course, the lice that will make your entire body their new home shortly after you arrive in the desert? Nope, no fun to be had there.

This has nothing to do with wanting to go kill people and break things for God and country, and hopefully not have it done unto you at some point -- or just as bad, one of your good friends. There's nothing quite like watching your pal since boot get blown to smithereens in front of you, decapitated by a concussion wave from an IED blast (he forgot to unhook his helmet strap -- one oversight, that's all it takes), riddled with bullets, or blow his own brains out in front of you because he "just can't take it anymore!" Nope, no one wants that, do they? Well, maybe some people don't want it so much as they understand or believe it is a necessary price to pay for something. Their reasons may vary. From a coldly rational, self-interested POV, it's hard to see the appeal.

But as for women getting access to combat MOSs -- as long as they don't actually have to do anything combat-y, and as long as it's known they will not remain there for a day longer than necessary to get their ticket punched -- that's a different story. Then maybe, if one wants to make a career of the armed forces, wear a nice clean uniform, work in an air conditioned office building, and collect a fat retirement check -- that's a different matter. Log some number of days in a CZ, that's all -- just put up with it. Then the promotion opps open up like a spring flower. Next stop: The Pentagon!

Or, that's the idea. Just how well it'd work remains to be seen. I suppose first, three things need to happen. 1) Enough women need to actually want to even get assigned a combat MOS. Seems at the moment, there aren't too many. (When there aren't enough men stepping up, they get assigned to infantry whether they like it or not. Wonder why the armed forces are not doing that with the female troops? Hmmm... well, we know the answer, don't we?) 2) Those who do want to get a combat MOS need to be able to pass the physical standards tests. Or, the tests need to be changed for them so they can. I am guessing the second thing will happen, if anything. And 3) The gov't needs to keep its word. If after the ticket gets punched, such a female soldier (assume officer) actually has to get the promo she thought she would get. Will she? Hard to say. After all, it could be a matter of military policy to field X no. of females into combat MOSs and/or deployed into CZs at any given time, but if you promise 20 women they will all be promoted faster than usual from lieutenant to captain if they do so, will you have enough open rank billets for them all at once? Or do some of them have to wait? And if so, how is that going to go over?

Well, I am not a human crystal ball, though I do have my conjectures about this and damn near everything else [don't I? :)] Personally, I look at it this way: No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2014-02-28 06:03

What does one expect? This seems perfectly predictable to me. Who would expect anyone to seek a job they most likely aren't physically qualified for? People usually consider their natural abilities and physical capabilities when choosing a profession. Someone who has no natural artistic ability rarely strives to be an artist; and most Asian people don't strive to be professional basketball players in the NBA - and we aren't surprised and critical of these choices.

Also, the few women who might physically qualify for combat roles such as Navy Seals are usually homosexuals, so birth control, pregnancy and family planning aren't on their list of concerns like they are for heterosexual women.

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Submitted by Kris on Sat, 2014-03-01 01:29