In a month dedicated to one group’s civil rights, leaps and bounds have been made in another; the Pentagon recently revoked their policy concerning women in the combat zone. While some cheer this decision, many question the issues that might arise. Will women be able to keep up with the rigor of the front-lines? Will they be able to handle it emotionally? How will this affect the draft?
Lieutenant Colonel Randy S. Herd, an ROTC instructor at Bob Jones High School, suggested an issue along a different line: the lack of available mentorship. “There will be problems in lagtime for leadership,” he said. “A woman looking to be promoted in the ranks, in a field where women weren’t before, won’t find any good role models. After a while there will be, though.”
As for the other issues? Colonel Herd shook his head. “The military is already pretty much integrated… standards might be revisited, but a lot of males can’t make those, either. An example I use in class is that if I’m a downed pilot, I don’t care if the hand reaching for mine is man, woman, or elephant, just as long as they’re trained.”
Another factor to consider: ladies are no strangers to the battlefield. From Joan of Arc to Molly Pitcher, women throughout history have done what they can – even disguised themselves as men – to defend their homeland. Of all the students in ROTC, Colonel Herd estimated about 15% to be girls, and of those, 3% seriously interested in entering the military. “Women have been flying fighter pilots since the 1990’s,” he said. “That’s pretty much already the combat zone.”
The policy will be completely revoked by 2016.
