Organization Calls for Women in Military Combat
The Alliance for National Defense has issued a call to the United States Department of Defense to allow women in combat on an equal basis with men. AND is a non-profit educational organization that promotes gender equality in the armed forces. Its position paper can be seen here.
To AND's credit, the paper emphasizes that jobs in the military should be open to all on the basis of the individual's ability to perform the requirements of the job. If you can do the job, you should be allowed to; if you can't you shouldn't be. As things stand, the military maintains rules regarding combat that effectively place men in harm's way to a much greater extent than women. That's why, although 27% of U.S. military forces in Iraq are women, only 2.4% of the deaths to U.S. forces are to women.
The military's preference for killed and injured men shouldn't be allowed to continue. Again, jobs in the military, like jobs anywhere should be apportioned solely on the basis of job-specific criteria, not sex.
The AND paper doesn't go into it, but I'd like to know if the prohibition on women in combat affects their eligibility for G.I. benefits. If the benefits women are entitled to are diminished due to their combat prohibition, then that's another reason why combat should be opened up to them. If they get the same benefits as men who put their lives on the line, then that too is a reason to remove the prohibition. Equalize the risk, equalize the benefits.
Obviously, I don't know the military's rules on benefits. If someone out there does, please enlighten me/us.
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