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Example research essay topic: U S C Combat Missions - 2,342 words

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Women in War Womens participation in military actions is one of the most heated issues that have triggered a lot of controversial responses nowadays. Although there are people who say that women should be given an opportunity to participate in military actions, after closely analyzing the issue it is evident that women should not be allowed to do so for a variety of solid reasons. Within the course of this paper, we will first analyze different statutes that regulate women in the military, to be followed by the multitude of arguments as for why women should not be allowed to fight. The regulations regarding women in military and combat are complex. There is no blanket law that prohibits women from serving in combat; there are only statutes, which do not apply to the Army, that specify women may not serve on ships or aircraft engaged in combat missions.

This causes confusion amongst the armed forces. The task has been left up to the individual services to define what jobs are closed to women. The statutory restrictions on women in the U. S. military are as follows: Title 10, U. S.

C. 6015 applies to the Navy and Marine Corps. It states: Women may not be assigned duty on vessels or in aircraft that are engaged in combat missions nor may they be assigned to other than temporary duty on vessels of the Navy except hospital ships, transports, and vessels of similar classification not expected to be assigned to combat missions. (Addis, p. 117) Since the Marine Corps is a part of the Department of Navy, it is required to adhere to the restrictions of Section 6015. In addition, Marine Corps policy prohibits the assignment of women Marines to any unit within which they would likely become engaged in direct combat operations with the enemy, or to any assignment that has been designated by the Secretary of the Navy as requiring "an armed combat trained Marine. " (Addis, p. 120) Title 10, U. S. C. 8549 applies to the Air Force. It states: Female members of the Air Force, except those designated under section 8067 of this title, or appointed with a view to designation under that section, may not be assigned to duty in aircraft engaged in combat missions. (The exceptions designated under Section 8067 are medical and dental professionals, and chaplains and other professionals. ) (Addis, p. 124) The statute that covers the Army, Title 10, U.

S. C. 3012, gives the Secretary of the Army authority to determine personnel policy for the Army. The Secretary of the Army has developed policies that exclude women from "routine engagement in direct combat. " (Addis, p. 126) The Army justifies its exclusionary policies as being consistent with an implied congressional intent (which is explicit in the Navy and Air Force exclusionary statutes). Therefore nothing bars services from applying combat missions to units other than ships or aircraft, all services have chosen to do so.

The Law does not define a combat mission, so the different services have differing opinions on what combat is or isnt. There are a few terms and definitions that are used in the statues and the wording of the different branches policy letters. Close Combat: A 1978 DOD response a congressional report, the Department of Defense defined "close combat" as "engaging an enemy with individual or crew-served weapons while being exposed to direct enemy fire, a high probability of direct physical contact with the enemy's personnel, and a substantial risk of capture. " (Holm, p. 87) The Army used this definition to determine the positions and branches that would be closed to Army women Direct Combat. In 1982, the Army expanded upon the definition of "close combat" and changed the terminology to "direct combat. " Direct combat, a term used only by the Army, is defined as "engaging an enemy with individual or crew-served weapons while being exposed to direct enemy fire, a high probability of direct physical contact with the enemy's personnel, and a substantial risk of capture. Direct combat takes place while closing with the enemy by fire, maneuver, or shock effect in order to destroy or capture, or while repelling assault by fire, close combat or counterattack. " (Holm, p. 140) The risk rule states that: "Risks of exposure to direct combat, hostile fire, or capture, are proper criteria for closing noncombatant positions or units to women, providing that the type, degree, and duration of such risks are equal to or greater than that experienced by combat units in the same theater of operations." (Holm, p. 123) This rule was developed in 1988 in an attempt to standardize positions closed to women across services by a DOD Task Force on Women in the Military.

Are women physically suited for the rigors of ground combat? The 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces (designed to weigh the ability of women to perform under combat conditions) heard testimony from Army Lieutenant Colonel William Gregor, Chairman of the Department of Military Science at the University of Michigan. Gregor's test of Army officer candidates found that women are not, on average, as physically capable as men are. The top 20 percent of women at West Point achieved scores on the Army Physical Fitness Test equivalent to the bottom 20 percent of male cadets. Only seven percent of women can meet a score of 60 on the push-up test, while 78 percent of men exceed it. A 20 - to 30 -year-old woman has the same aerobic capacity as a 50 -year- old man.

Only one woman out of 100 could meet a physical standard achieved by 60 out of 100 men. (Addis, p. 160) Gregor concluded that going through this process would mean, "I have just traded off 60 soldiers for the prospect of getting one. The cost considerations are prohibitive. " (Addis, p. 163) How will bearing and raising children affect a womans readiness to deploy on short notice? There are pregnancy & family responsibilities. During desert Storm women in the navy were 4 time unavailable for deployment than men. At any given time 8 to 10 % of women are pregnant in the Navy. For the Army its 10 to 15 %. (Holm, p. 139) Pregnancy and family responsibilities affect unit readiness also.

The Navy requires that pregnant sailors be within 6 hours of a medical facility so before a ship can sail each of the pregnant women must be replaced, leaving sudden gaps in a unit that depends on the presence of all team members to complete its mission. Such gaps would damage a units combat readiness and risk the lives of its members. Because of the shrinking Military under defense cuts there is a higher ratio of women on the job, women only accounted for 14. 5 % of Army recruits in 1988 and 20. 5 in 1991. (Holm, p. 155) Lower unit readiness caused by absence of child bearing women will get worse as more women are attracted into the Armed Forces. The potential consequence of women and men operating in intimate proximity away from home for extended periods of time is a problem. There is a combat requirement for closeness and teamwork; however, sexual activities may be brought on with this closeness. One ship in Operation Desert Storm reported that 10 %, 36 of its 360, women on board became pregnant and that 64 % of sailors reported sexual activity. (Addis, p. 77) Having men and women in military units invites sexual attraction and special relationships.

How do women currently serving in the armed forces feel about being assigned in combat roles? In a 1992 Survey on Gender in the military by Northwestern University, they discovered that 70 to 80 % favored women being able to volunteer for combat. However, 90 % of Noncommissioned officers and 88 % of enlisted women indicated that they would not volunteer. Only 14 % of Officers said they would volunteer for combat and 52 % of women claimed they would leave the service if women were sent to combat. (Addis, p. 211) There is the question about how does not allowing a women go to combat affect Promotion potential for women. It was reported that women are currently being promoted at an equal or faster rate than men. (Addis, p. 189) The health consequences of service in the military for women are dangerous. Heavy lifting, stress, fatigue, and malnutrition are common place among combat missions and these same credentials have also proven to cause permanent damage to womens reproductive capabilities.

These are long term effects, including Osteoporosis. According to the 1992 Presidential Commission on women in the military it was discovered that women stand higher injury rates than men. Women experience twice the number of lower extremity injuries and over four times the number of stress fractures. Nature gives women only 50 to 60 % of upper torso strength of men. They also only have 70 to 75 % of the aerobic capacity of men. (Addis, p. 144) There was a study conducted in 1995 by the Army in which 40 women underwent six months of training with personal trainers. These women excised 5 days a week and in the end they were able to prove that 78 percent of them could lift 100 lbs which would qualify them for heavy lift jobs in the Army. (Addis, p. 145) There were a few problems with this experiment: there was no control group of males doing the same exercises, there were personnel trainers helping the women work out 5 days a week.

Most military units do not have the ability to allow their personnel to work out that much and be away from their assigned duties. Military members under fire must have confidence in the physical abilities of their comrades. Questions were brought about equal training. Can women train with the same standards as men? These questions were raised in West Point due to gender differences in training. The most common complaint by the male cadets and midshipmen was the lowering of physical standards.

The women could not keep up. That was not the only problem encountered. Other allowances were made for the women. Women were thought to need more privacy than men and so were issued shower curtains though men were not, and of course none of the women had their heads shaved. The substitution of classes boxing and wrestling in karate and self- defense for classes in had more to do with what the academies thought becoming of women, than what physical risks the sports presented to them. It didn't seem to matter that the purpose of training men to box and wrestle was to develop physical courage and aggressiveness, neither of which was achieved by most of the alternatives offered to women.

There have been other nations that have used females in combat however none of them came out with what the pro-combat females would call a happy ending. Israel barred women form combat in 1950 after a 1948 study proved that men tried to protect and assist women rather than continue the attack. (Holm, p. 226) As a result they put themselves and their entire unit at risk. Unit moral was damaged when the men saw women killed and maimed on the battlefield, more so than seeing a man killed or maimed. There are questions regarding if a woman would be able to handle being a prisoner of war. Pregnancies are unlikely for prisoners of war (POW) because of the stress and poor diet generally associated with the POW environment, most if not all of the women would experience amenorrhea and be incapable of pregnancy. It has also been proven that overly protective male prisoners may be adversely affected in their judgment because women are present, thus causing them to take a course of action or to refrain from taking a course of action (i.

e. , escape) which they otherwise would have done differently. Many fear the enemy will capitalize on the situation, using torture and threats against the women as a technique to break the men's resistance. The potential for love affairs and sexual relations among the male and female prisoners and the effects of these relationships on fellow prisoners may create problems. Possibly dissension and fights would occur; morale and unity could be threatened by the creation of "love triangles. " The more immediate concern would be the exploitation of the relationship by the enemy. One of the female officers who were held during desert storm as a POW said that if she got raped as a prisoner, that it was just an occupational hazard. (Addis, p. 200) It is not necessary for women to fight in combat.

Introducing women into combat would destroy the exclusively male tangibles of war fighting and the feminine images of what men fight for -- peace, home, and family. The man who places his life at risk for a way of life represented by the unique virtues of womanhood is going to be rudderless and demoralized if that uniqueness is denied. In the United States men have been proven in combat, why risk it? Why change what works so that some feminist can say, I feel better knowing that I can go into combat, even though when it comes down to it the majority dont want to go. There are some things that we need to just let alone, and this is one of them. The women who would be put in the trenches dont want to go there, but the politicians of feminists feel that they need to push this issue.

There are a lot of people in the military who will not speak out against this because it is not politically correct, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Words Count: 2, 269. Bibliography: Addis, Elisabetta, Valeria E. Russo, and Lorena Sebesta, Eds.

Women Soldiers: Images and Realities. NY: St. Martin's Press, 2001. Holm, Jeanne. Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.


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Research essay sample on U S C Combat Missions

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