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Babes in Arms: Report leans toward women in combat
EFL Internal Army documents advocate changing Pentagon rules on mixed-sex units in a way that critics say will risk placing female soldiers in ground-combat situations. Â Â Â Â The Nov. 29 briefing to senior Army officers at the Pentagon, presented as part of the service's sweeping transformation of its 10 war-fighting divisions, advocates scrapping the military's ban on collocation -- the deployment of mixed-sex noncombat units alongside all-male combat brigades. Â Â Â Â The briefing contained the phrase: "The way ahead: rewrite/eliminate the Army collocation policy." Â Â Â Â To some in the Army, the confidential briefing proves that the service is moving toward a decision to put women within direct combat units, despite statements denying such plans, including a Nov. 3 Capitol Hill briefing for senior congressional staff members by Army and Pentagon officials. Â Â Â Â According to one aide, the Nov. 3 briefers assured the staff members that the Army was complying with the collocation rule and did not want it changed. Â Â Â Â "We are not collocating," a senior congressional aide quoted the presenters as saying. Â Â Â Â But the Army's Nov. 29 paper suggests otherwise, and critics of the plan, both inside and outside the Army, argue that it is part of an overall plan to override a 1994 policy prohibiting women from serving in direct land combat. ... Â Â Â Â The Times reported last week on an internal May 10 briefing that portrayed the Army as in a bind. The briefing states the Army does not have enough male soldiers to fill the FSCs if they were to collocate with combat brigades and thus required to be men-only. Â Â Â Â All-male FSCs, the paper states, "creates potential long-term challenge to Army; pool of male recruits too small to sustain force." Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-12-13 |
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