News Blog
Panetta Overturns Rule Barring Women From Combat
January 23, 2013
According to senior defense officials, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is planning to overturn an almost decade-long rule prohibiting female soldiers from small-unit ground combat positions.
Taking into consideration recommendations from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Panetta has opened up thousands of front-line combat positions, mostly in the Army, for which military women have never before been eligible to apply.
The move makes it easier for women to secure jobs on the ground that routinely involve combat situations, making it possible for female soldiers to claim the distinction of having combat experience, an important facet of promotion in both the Army and Marine Corps.
Comments
Personally I see this as the most stupid thing to happen to America in a long time. First, women have already been serving in combat roles, but it hasn't been open as it has to men, and women's experiences are not well known. Women have for years been serving as drone warriors operating combat missions remotely, as door gunners exposed directly to combat, and in many other combat roles. This aside, the rampant militarism of this Administration, paradoxically coupled with its apparent desire to disarm the citizenry, sends a clear message: That it intends to continue a policy of sending even more people into harm's way in unjust wars while hiding behind a mask of equality as it does so. In addition, we see the "Freedom Seven" lawsuit against indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act proceed as the government and plaintiffs are back in court on February 6th. When it comes to the question of what we want to support, not only women, but families and communities should deliberate and decide: do they want to support endless war abroad and assaults on our Constitution, which would be supported by joining the military at this time? Or would it make more sense to support your family and community by engaging in endeavors (whether working or volunteering) which are more productive, positive, and less harmful to the world? Do we want more teachers or more soldiers? These and more questions. Ask yourself, and your children, these difficult but important questions.
Something else to consider as well: The passage of PTSD from servicemember to other family members, something our government does not care about in its pursuit of endless unjust wars which it "authorizes" by a new proclamation of "emergency" every year on 9/11. See: http://byliner.com/mac-mcclelland/stories/is-ptsd-contagious on the PTSD issue, and see http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/11/notice-continuation-national-emergency-respect-certain-terrorist-attacks on how Obama has continued to push unjust wars by claiming, every year, that there is an "emergency." This is sick and must stop.
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