Israel's Army Says That The Number Of Women Serving In Its Combat Units Had Reached A Record Level This Year

Female soldier, Lotem Stapleton, a physical education officer, demonstrates a move a during a training session in Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defence technique, at a military base in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights March 1, 2017.. (photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)

Jerusalem Post: Israeli women stepping up as men lose interest in combat roles

2,656 women enlisted as combat soldiers in 2017, an increase of 300 from 2016.

Despite the continued trend of IDF draftees being less motivated to serve as combat soldiers in the IDF, the increase of motivation by women and the shortening of service has allowed combat brigades to fill up, the army has announced.

“Without a doubt, as of today, the shortening of service in the Israeli army has given the IDF more fighters,” a senior officer in the Manpower Directorate said on Sunday during a briefing with military journalists at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Nevertheless, according to the overall data, there remains a slight decrease in combat recruitment from last year and it is expected to continue to drop, the senior IDF officer said, stressing that the main units feeling the pressure from this lack of motivation are Combat Engineers, the Armored Corps, and Artillery.

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Update: Israel says record number of women in army combat units (AFP)

WNU Editor: The Israeli Army howevere failed in its ultra-Orthodox recruitment .... IDF again misses ultra-Orthodox draft goal, gets record female combat soldiers (Times of Israel).

The British Military Will Allow Women To Serve In Close Combat Roles

 MoD

The Independent: Women to fight in frontline combat roles in British military

David Cameron is set to lift a longstanding ban

A ban on women serving in frontline combat roles in the British armed forces is set to be lifted.

David Cameron is expected to announce the new policy at a Nato summit in Warsaw, according to sources cited by the BBC.

The change follows an 18-month review of the policy announced last year by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

The review looked into questions of whether women were physically strong enough to serve with the infantry on the frontline and whether their presence would undermine the cohesion and morale of fighting units.

The rule change comes amid reports of a recruitment crisis and undermanned army reserves.

Read more ....

More News On The The British Military Allowing Women To Serve In Close Combat Roles

Female Soldiers To Be Given Frontline Combat Roles -- Forces TV
Women to serve in close combat roles in the British military -- BBC
Female soldiers WILL be allowed to serve in frontline combat roles, David Cameron announces as Britain finally prepares to lift the ban -- Daily Mail
Britain to lift ban on women in frontline combat jobs -- Reuters
U.K. lifts ban on women in combat roles -- UPI
UK Military to Lift Ban on Women in Combat Roles -- AFP
Women to serve in combat in British Forces -- The Telegraph
Cameron Lifts Ban on Women Serving in Close Combat Roles in UK Military -- Sputnik
British military to allow women in close combat roles -- DW

Life As An Afghan Policewomen

Police training in Kabul. The hiring of policewomen has been a priority for Western funding organizations. Credit Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

New York Times: Afghan Policewomen Struggle Against Culture

In a clash between Western ideals and Afghan realities, an effort to elevate the status of women by recruiting them to the police force has often backfired.


JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Parveena almost got away.

She was on her way home from a visit to her parents in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan with her children by her side and a small group of women. Two men, their faces covered by kaffiyehs, pulled up on a motor scooter.

“Who is Parveena, daughter of Sardar?” said one, looking at the group of women, their faces hidden behind blue burqas.

No one answered. One of the men took his Kalashnikov and used the muzzle to lift the burqa of the nearest woman — in conservative Afghan society, a gesture akin to undressing her in public. It was Parveena, who like many Afghans used only one name. She grabbed the muzzle, according to her father and her brother, and said, “Who is asking?”

But the gunmen had seen her face, and they fired 11 bullets into her.

WNU Editor: This New York Time's article was posted earlier this year. There are no recent articles on how is this program faring .... but I suspect that with the Taliban now being very aggressive in targeting the security forces, life as a policewomen must be precarious at best.

Studies On How Other Countries Employ Women In Combat Raises Questions On US Policy And Direction

US Military: 'Women Are Very Much In Combat' -- The Guardian

Rowan Scarborough, The Washington Times: Marine Corps study finds few women in combat in other nations’ militaries

As the Obama administration pressed the military to end all sex segregation, the Marine Corps decided to see for itself how other countries employ women in direct combat — and it has amassed some surprising results over the past two years.

In Canada, where a ban was lifted in 1989, the number of women in combat arms remains low and there are no specific physical requirements for any jobs in the Canadian land forces.

In Israel, which requires military service of its citizens, women in the vaunted Israel Defense Forces are restricted to serving in two light infantry border units when it comes to direct land combat.

These findings, among many others, are part of the Corps’ after-action report, one of 21 Marine studies and reviews released by the Pentagon after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Dec. 3 that all combat jobs would be opened to women. He overruled the Marine Corps, which sought an exemption for infantry and commando units.

WNU Editor: The role that women play in the military is huge .... but the number of women who could do so in combat units is probably small. Pushing them into these units is probably not going to produce the results that Washington likes to think will happen when this policy is fully implemented.

The Dispute Of Women Serving In Combat Roles Has Gone Public Between The Marine Corps And Its Civilian Leadership

New York Times: Gender Integration of Marines Brings Out Unusually Public Discord

The Marine Corps and its civilian leadership at the Pentagon are squaring off in an unusually public dispute over whether integrating women into the corps’s all-male combat units will undermine the units’ effectiveness, or whether the male-dominated Marine leadership is cherry-picking justifications to keep women out.

The military is facing a deadline set by the Obama administration to integrate women into all combat jobs by 2016 or ask for specific exemptions. The Marines, with a 93 percent male force dominated by infantry, are widely seen as the branch with the hardest integration task. The Marine Corps has the most units closed to women and still trains male and female recruits separately.

The tension began last week when the Marine Corps released a summary of a nine-month, $36 million study that found that integrated combat units were slower, had more injuries and were less accurate when firing weapons.

WNU Editor: The President and his Secretary of the Navy have made it very clear that women are to serve in combat positions .... and while the Marine Corps have also made it very clear that this will cause problems .... the trend is clear .... women are going to get the opportunity to serve .... whether it is now or later. What's my take .... the Marines are correct in voicing their concerns, but this administration does not care .... ideology takes precedence over objections .... and I am also willing to bet that when problems do arise in the future (and they will), this administration will deny and avoid responsibility.

Marines In Gender-Integrated Infantry Unit Dispute Navy Secretary Ray Mabus' Comments

Washington Post: Navy secretary threw us ‘under the bus,’ say Marines in gender-integrated infantry unit

Marines involved in a controversial experiment evaluating a gender-integrated infantry unit say they feel betrayed by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus after he criticized the results of a nine-month study that found women are injured more frequently and shoot less accurately in simulated combat conditions.

“Our secretary of the Navy completely rolled the Marine Corps and the entire staff that was involved in putting this [experiment] in place under the bus,” said Sgt. Danielle Beck, a female anti-armor gunner with the task force.

Mabus questioned the findings of the research after a four-page summary of the results was released Thursday, saying he still thinks all jobs in the Marine Corps should be opened to women. He said results that found women were more than twice as likely to be injured and ultimately compromise a unit’s combat effectiveness were an “extrapolation based on injury rates, and I’m not sure that’s right,” he told NPR.

Previous Post: Do All-Male U.S. Marine Infantry Units Outperformed Teams With Women?

WNU Editor: It appears that the Navy Secretary had already made up his mind even before the report was released. What's my take .... being a combat soldier is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world .... and it is not a surprise that many people are not cut out for it.

Do All-Male U.S. Marine Infantry Units Outperformed Teams With Women?

Washington Post: Navy secretary criticizes controversial Marine Corps gender integration study

The Navy secretary took issue with the Marine Corps’ controversial gender integration study released Thursday, saying that he questioned some of its findings and still believes the military would be best with all jobs open to women.

In an interview with NPR, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus commented on the study, which found that combat units integrated with female Marines typically did not move as quickly or shoot as accurately, and that women were more than twice as likely to suffer injuries.

The study tracked about 300 male Marines and 100 female Marines through nine months of rigorous combat activities at Twentynine Palm, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., including long marches carrying heavy loads and live-fire exercises with a variety of weapons. Women were inserted into some squads of Marines for 24 to 36 hours, with the units all compared.

WNU Editor: This story reminds me of one of my favourite sayings .... "the data never lies ... but people lie about the data".

More News On Reports That All-Male U.S. Marine Infantry Units Outperformed Teams With Women

Navy skeptical of marine corps study declaring all-male squads perform better -- The Guardian/Reuters
This is How the US Navy Secretary Responded to a Marine Corps Study Critical of Women in Combat -- IJReview
Navy Secretary Believes Combat Positions Should Be Open To Qualified Women -- NPR
Marine Corps Study: All-Male Combat Units Performed Better Than Mixed Units -- NPR
Mixed-gender teams come up short in Marines' infantry experiment -- Marine Times
U.S. Marines study: Women in combat injured more often than men -- UPI
Marine experiment finds women get injured more frequently, shoot less accurately than men -- Washington Post
Marine Corps test out women in combat roles but find that only a few can handle the mental stress of the job and many drop out -- Daily Mail
The US Marines tested all-male squads against mixed-gender ones, and the results were pretty bleak -- Quartz
Colonel Germano: Low Expectations Limit Female Marines -- Time
The U.S. Marines Pitted All-Male Squads Against Mixed-Gender Squads And Made A Big Discovery -- Western Journalism
Why Marines, unlike Army and Navy, are so against women in combat -- Anna Mulrine, CSM

The Debate On Women In Combat Continues

Reuters

Politico: The Military Has a Man Problem

Stop whining about women in combat. It’s the guys who need to change—and fast.

Army Specialist Laura Naylor, a Wisconsin native, spent a year in Baghdad with the 32nd Military Police Company in 2003 and 2004. During that time, she—like all of the more than quarter-million women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan—was officially banned from ground combat. That technicality didn’t slow down Naylor when an IED hit her convoy and it began to take fire from a nearby building. “We had to search this house nearby, thinking they were the ones doing the shooting, and I was the lead person the whole way. I had a flashlight in one hand, a pistol in the other, and I’d kick the door open with my foot, look both ways, give the all clear, go to the next room, do the same thing,” she recounted to me a few years later. “We were interchangeable with the infantry.”

WNU Editor: In my book this debate is over .... it is now accepted that women will serve in combat ... the question that remains to be answered is .... in what capacity and in what units (i.e. will they eventually be able to serve in special forces units).

U.S. Special Operations Command Officials Have Doubts That Women Can Do The Job

Lt. Ashley White, before her death. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika, JFKSWCS PAO/ Released.)

Breitbart: Special Ops Troops Fear Officers Will Bring Women into Elite Units

The Associated Press reports that general details of recent surveys regarding the integration of women into elite commando units have been discussed by Special Operations Command officials for the first time. While the exact details of these surveys remain confidential, it’s clear that special operations troops have deep misgivings about the introduction of women into their extremely demanding units… and worry that it will happen anyway, due to pressure from feminist political culture.

Update: AP Exclusive: Special ops troops doubt women can do the job -- AP

WNU Editor: Some have a different point of view, arguing that women do have a special role to play in special operations  .... Women deployed with Special Ops hailed in book (Gretel C. Kovach, UT San Diego).

The U.S. Marines Are Looking For 'A Few Good Women'

CBS 60 Minutes: A Few Good Women

The Marines are looking for a few good women to serve in combat but, after more than two years of trying, no woman has made it through the grueling infantry officer school

Remember that old recruiting ad the Marines are "...looking for a few good men?" Well, now they're looking for a few good women as well. The Armed Services have been ordered to open all their ground combat units to women by the end of this year - or else give the secretary of defense a good reason why not.

For the Marines that means accepting female volunteers into their Infantry Officer School to see if they can make it through the grueling three-month course. You would expect the training to be tough, but we had no idea how tough until we saw it. The Marines have kept most of what happens in that course secret so anyone going through it doesn't know what to expect. But they opened it up for us so you could see what it takes to become a Marine infantry officer - male or female it doesn't matter because the demands are the same. Can women do it? Take a look and judge for yourself.

WNU Editor: The clip for this story starts at the 15:52 mark. The story is interesting, but this report also gives a eye-opening look at the Marines "combat endurance test" .... wow .... I knew it was tough .... but not that tough .... and the 25ft rope climb .... ouch!!!!

Update #1: 60 Minutes Takes on Women in Combat -- Washington Free Beacon
Update #2: 60 Minutes and Women in Combat Training -- Russ Vaughn, American Thinker

Update #3: Speaking of having women in combat .... a new British report says that it is NOT a good idea .... Integrating women into combat reduces effectiveness, harms unit cohesion (Washington Times).

U.K. Defense Minister: Women May Serve In Close Combat Roles By 2016

Women May Serve In Close Combat Roles By 2016, Says Fallon -- BBC

Women may be allowed to fight in front line combat roles for the first time - pending a further review by the Ministry of Defence.

A government-commissioned report on the ban on women serving in close combat roles called for more research to assess the physical demands involved.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said armed forces roles "should be determined by ability and not gender".

And he added that he hoped to "open up combat roles to women" in 2016.

Currently women can serve on the front line, but not where the primary aim is to "close with and kill the enemy".

Read more ....

More News On The U.K. Permitting Women To Serve In Close Combat Roles By 2016

Women could get combat roles in British army by 2016 -- The Guardian
U.K. report: combat positions for women by 2016 -- UPI
Fallon backing women on front line -- Daily Mail
The Armed Forces will open all roles to women - including combat -- The Telegraph
Women could serve in close combat roles by 2016, UK military says -- CNN
Women could join British Army’s close combat infantry by 2016 -- RT
FactCheck: where do women serve as combat soldiers? -- 4 Channel News
Women in military combat is nothing new, just not British -- The Guardian

Women On The Front Lines In Ukraine

Tough: This rebel was among the fighters to take part in the battle for Donetsk's Sergey Prokofiev airport

The Warrior Women Of Ukraine: Posing With Their Tanks And Machine Guns, Meet The Ordinary Mothers Taking Up Arms On BOTH Sides Of The Civil War -- Daily Mail

* Both rebels and Ukrainian government forces boast female fighters
* Many have been killed during the conflict which is now in its seventh month
* The conflict was triggered when President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted
* Vicious fighting in and around Donetsk has claimed 3,660 lives so far
* Included in the total are the 298 people who died in the Flight MH17 disaster

Before fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, Irina was a croupier in a casino who never dreamt of taking up arms. Now she is gambling with her life.

Using the nom de guerre 'Gaika', a cartoon character that translates as Gadget, she has joined an artillery unit in a pro-Russian separatist group fighting government forces.

'When your home is being destroyed, everything that is dear to you, friends, work... It's about character,' she explains. 'Girls who go into combat are real Russian women.'

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My Comment: A year ago no one thought this was possible .... including me.

Meet The Female Arab Pilot Who Led The First Airstrikes Against The Islamic State

UAE's First Female Fighter Pilot Led Airstrike Against ISIS -- CNN

(CNN) -- Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri may be ISIS' worst nightmare.

The first female fighter pilot in the United Arab Emirates, she led a strike mission this week against the terror group, that country's ambassador to the United States said Thursday.

"She is (a) fully qualified, highly trained, combat ready pilot, and she led the mission," Yousef Al Otaiba told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

The UAE has joined the United States and a handful of other Arab nations in conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

This summer, the group declared the establishment of a "caliphate," an Islamic state stretching across the territory it has conquered. It maintains strict rules for women, who are lashed for infractions such as not being fully covered.

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More News On The Female Arab Pilot Who Led The First Airstrikes Against The Islamic State

Arab Woman Led Airstrikes Over Syria -- New York Times
Meet the Female Pilot Who Led Airstrike on ISIS -- ABC News
U.A.E.’s first female fighter pilot dropped bombs on the Islamic State -- Washington Post
ISIS Fight: Mariam Al Mansouri Is First Woman Fighter Pilot for U.A.E. -- NBC
Female UAE Pilot 'Leads Strikes' on Jihadists -- Defense News/AFP
Meet A Female UAE Pilot Who's Dropping Bombs On ISIS -- Business Insider
UAE’s female fighter pilot leads airstrikes against ISIL -- The National

My Comment: I am a few days late on this story .... but she is still getting a lot of attention.

More Israeli Female Soldiers Want Combat Roles

The four female paramedics that saved lives during Operation Protective Edge (Photo: Gadi Kablo, Yedioth Aharnoth)

More Israeli Female Soldiers Fought In Gaza Than In Past Wars, But Some Say Not Enough -- Washington Post

TZE’ELIM, Israel — After five days treating wounded Israeli soldiers on the battlefields of the Gaza Strip this summer, Staff Sgt. Noam Dan was taking a break with her unit when a commander from another army battalion walked past.

Dan, like the other soldiers, was wearing fatigues and a helmet and carrying a gun. But the commander’s eyes stopped on the dark braid cascading down her back.

“He said, ‘What are you doing here? You’re a girl!’ Before I could answer, one of my officers said, ‘What do you mean? She fights better than any of you,’ ” said Dan, 21, a paramedic who lived out of a tank for more than a week straight during the Israel-Hamas war, treating injured Israeli soldiers as fierce battles took place nearby.

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My Comment: If they have proven themselves on the battlefield .... they should not be stopped if this is what they want.

Less Than 10 Percent Of U.S. Army Women Want To Serve In Combat Units

Small Fraction of Army Women Want Combat Gigs -- Time

Army study comes as the service prepares to open new job opportunities to female soldiers

Just 7.5% of women in the Army say they’re interested in moving into one of the combat jobs soon to be open to them, according to the results of an Army study reported Tuesday.

Of the 30,000 women who responded to the study, only 2,238 said they would want a job in infantry, armor, artillery or combat engineering, the Associated Press reports. Most of the women who expressed interest in combat jobs were age 27 and younger. The year-long study comes after a Pentagon order forcing the services to open the same opportunities to women that are available to men.

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More News On Reports That Less Than 10 Percent Of U.S. Army Women Want To Serve In Combat Units

Few Women Want Combat Jobs In Army: Survey -- Huffington Post/AP
Most Women Not Interested in Combat Roles -- Washington Free Beacon
Few Army women want combat jobs anyway, survey shows -- Washington Times
Survey: Less than 10 percent of Army women want to join combat units -- Daily Caller
Women in the Army Say They Don't Want to Fill Combat Positions -- HNGN

U.S. Army Chief: Army Won't Lower Combat Standards For Women

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said the service will not lower physical standards as it works to comply with a Pentagon order to open all military jobs to women. (Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade / Army)

Odierno: Army Won't Lower Combat Standards For Women -- USA Today

The services have until January 2016 to integrate women into ground combat jobs.

WASHINGTON — The Army's top officer pledged Monday that the service will not lower physical standards as it works to comply with a Pentagon order to open all military jobs to women, including the infantry and other physically demanding "ground combat" fields.

"Whatever we do, we are not going to lower the standards," Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, told USA TODAY in an interview Monday. "The standards will be the same."

Critics have raised concerns that the pressure to open military jobs that are currently closed to women, such as tanks, infantry and special operations, would lead to pressure to change those standards.

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My Comment: For some reason I am skeptical that the standards will remain the same .... from my vantage point the Pentagon's political masters have made it very clear that they want to see women being given positions to serve in combat .... and with this pressure it is hard to see the the military chiefs not obliging them.

Sending Our Daughters And Mothers To War

Reuters

Sending Our Daughters To War -- Robert L. Maginnis, Washington Times

The military defies both science and human experience.

This summer, President Obama will announce detailed plans for incorporating women into the U.S. armed forces’ ground combat units. Unlike the redefinition of marriage, this alteration of one of the basic norms of civilization has passed strangely unremarked. Yet it defies both science and millennia of human experience, and it ought to prompt some real national soul searching about the roles of the sexes in national security.

Two quite different views tend to dominate the debate over women in combat. Proponents of the change — feminists and their allies in the government, the Pentagon and the media — view this as a question of equality. As long as women are prohibited from engaging in the essential act of a soldier — ground combat — they are condemned to second-class citizenship in the military and in civilian society. Equality, in their view, is the supreme goal of public policy. If a cost of achieving it is the diminution of the efficiency or even effectiveness of our combat forces, so be it. They won’t quite come out and say this, but it is the unavoidable conclusion of their reasoning.

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My Comment: Could not have said it any better.

Separate Combat Training For Men And Women?

The military services have mapped out a schedule that also will include reviewing and possibly changing the physical and mental standards that men and women will have to meet in order to quality for certain infantry, armor, commando and other front-line positions. (Reuters)

Pentagon Mulling Separate Combat Training For Men, Women -- Washington Times

The military is looking at ways to modify its training for women to help them qualify for direct ground combat roles in the infantry, tanks and special operations.

Senior officers revealed the new effort this week at a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on personnel.

The armed services have pledged that their standards for ground combat and commando operations will be the same for men and women.

But now commanders are raising the possibility of a two-tiered training system.

The idea was presented by Rep. Niki Tsongas.

Read more ....

Update: Military May Divide Men, Women for Combat Training -- Newsmax

My Comment: I do not feel comfortable on where all of this is heading. I can understand some separation in the beginning .... but in the end men and women have to train together if they are to serve together.

Female Marines 'Sound-Off' On Defense Secretary Hagel On Women In Combat

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to Marines and sailors of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune, N.C., July 17, 2013. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Steven Fox

Marines Share Frank Views With Hagel On Women In Combat -- New York Times

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – The 15 sergeants, lieutenants and captains at the Marine Corps infantry school sat at the conference table with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to debate changes to the American way of war – in particular, the Pentagon’s new decision to integrate women into front-line combat positions.

One first sergeant objected strongly, saying that if women could add anything of value to combat infantry units, they would have been handed those missions long ago.

One staff sergeant worried that the Marine Corps’ high standards would have to be lowered if women were assigned to combat. Other Marines in the group agreed, warning that women would not be accepted by their male counterparts living in spartan wartime conditions, or that family lives would suffer, especially for those female Marines hoping to have children.

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My Comment: They can share their frank views with Hagel all they want .... but this is now official White House policy, and the man in the Oval Office is not going to change his mind.

Will Special Ops Remain An "All-Male" Enclave?

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Sexual Distraction? The Fear That May Keep Women Out Of Special Ops -- NBC 

Women are bound for perhaps thousands of combat roles amid a mandated, military-wide integration, but the armed forces’ most coveted jobs — including Navy SEALS and Army Rangers — could remain segregated, male-only preserves largely due to concerns about sex, according to former special operations troops.

Some ex-military members contend sexual attractions and relations are inevitable if male and female Special Ops members are placed in self-contained groups (as small as 12 or two) for long periods in lonely places. Those encounters, they add, could spark competition, jealousy and general havoc within tight teams where mutual trust and a laser attention to detail keep those troops alive.

Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEAL who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, contends that potentially disruptive hookups will occur if women are assigned to what are now all-male Special Ops teams: "How do you practically expect men and women not to have sex together under extreme stress, a half a world away from America — and how does that affect unit effectiveness?"

 Read more ....

My Comment: These concerns are probably justified .... but the issue has become political, and the politicians want women to participate in these roles.