The Army is studying whether to open combat infantry units to female soldiers. Military.com is reporting that the Army's top officer, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., made the following announcement on Friday at a breakfast gathering of the Association of the U.S. Army:
With respect to Gen Casey, this is a misnomer. In Iraq and Afghanistan, our female troops have been placed in combat situations from day one. Neither of these conflicts have "front lines," so to speak. An IED (improvised explosive device) blast or insurgent attack can happen virtually everywhere, and does. Female soldiers are exposed to all of this, and have engaged in combat as members of combat support units (transportation, maintenance and military police, etc.). They also work regularly with infantry units on patrols.
As I reported in Newsweek, Marissa Strock deployed to Iraq in May 2005 and while patrolling the southern Baghdad area known as the "Triangle of Death," the Humvee on which she was the gunner was hit by a command-detonated IED. It was a violent blast that instantly killed both the team leader, Staff Sgt. Steven Reynolds, and the driver, Spc. Marc A. Delgado. Strock was thrown backward by the explosion and knocked unconscious and suffered multiple injuries. She lost both legs in the explosion.
And as I reported on this blog, Marine Sgt Darhonda Rodela, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton, was in Baghdad from July 2007 to January 2008 during which she had so many close calls with explosions from IED's and incoming fire from insurgent attacks she lost count. The first attack came on Sept. 11, 2007. One person was killed and 11 were wounded that day, and, Rodela told me, "they were right next to me. After that attack, I was like, 'OK, I'm really in Iraq. I'm really here.' It is what it is. No place is safe.'
As you may recall, early in the invasion of Iraq, a convoy of the 507th Maintenance Battalion came under attack. Three of those wounded and taken prisoner by Iraqi forces were women. As Tucker Carlson writes, women have been prohibited from serving in ground combat units since 1994, but the policy is "routinely ignored." More than 100 female troops have been killed in this war, and many more have been wounded. And just like their male counterparts, thousands of female troops are coming home with post-traumatic-stress disorder and other psychological issues. Bottom line? Whatever the Army's final decision is on allowing women in infantry units, the fact is they already face the risk of injury and death, every day, and have since the start of both wars.
