Ira= q

Women in Combat: Roles in U.S. Army Expand

by M= ichele=20 Norris

First in a five-part series.

=20

Stan Honda

In this 2004 photo, U.S. Army Lt. Katrina Metcalfe = places=20 sandbags on a vehicle for protection in the event of an attack by = gunfire at a=20 palace of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, Iraq. AFP/Getty Image

Coming Up in the Series

Part 2: Three Female Soldiers on Their Experiences in = Iraq

Part 3:=20 Opposing View on Pentagon Policy Governing Women in Combat

Part = 4:=20 Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Sexual Harassment in the = Military

Part 5:=20 A Female Soldier on Life After Amputation

All = Things=20 Considered, October 1, 2007 =B7 = Since=20 2002, women have served nearly 170,000 tours of duty in Iraq and=20 Afghanistan.

Pentagon rules dictate that women may not be assigned to ground = combat units.=20 That means they are not allowed to serve in the infantry or as special=20 operations commandos.

But women are serving in support units as truck drivers, gunners, = medics,=20 military police, helicopter pilots and more.

This week, All Things Considered examines the expanding role = of=20 women in the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military sociologist Brenda Moore, of the University at Buffalo-The = State=20 University of New York, has been talking to women recently returned from = Iraq,=20 and says that "history is happening as we speak."

The current conflict in Iraq is a war against guerrilla insurgency = =97 fought=20 with the use of improvised explosive devices, mortar attacks, suicide = bombs and=20 rocket-propelled grenades, Moore says.

So even though women are prohibited from serving in direct combat, = "the=20 unpredictable nature of the attacks in this war blurs the distinction = between=20 front-line and rear areas," Moore says.

"Women who are assigned to support units are finding themselves in = the thick=20 of the battle."

Moore notes that a number of legislative changes led to the expanded = role for=20 women in today's military.

The first major factor was a shift in the mid-1970s from the military = draft=20 to an all-volunteer force. This change created opportunities for women = to serve=20 in greater numbers as the services sought to meet personnel goals.

"There simply were not enough men volunteering to serve, making the = service=20 of women a necessity," Moore says.

In the early 1990s, Congress lifted the ban on women flying combat = aircraft=20 and serving on combat ships, and during the first Clinton = administration,=20 then-Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced new rules and policies = that opened=20 more military jobs to women.

And compared with other countries, women in the U.S. military are = playing a=20 more active role in direct combat activities as a result of the Iraq = war.

In the Netherlands, for instance, a 1979 law led to the integration = of the=20 Dutch military, with no formal restrictions on women serving combat = duty. In=20 practice, however, Dutch women are assigned to traditional roles, such = as=20 clerical, communication and nursing work.

"While legislatively, these roles are open, in actuality, women have = not been=20 serving in direct combat," Moore says.

In Israel, too, although the law states that all 18-year-old Jewish = women=20 must serve for two years and may volunteer for combat assignments, the = reality=20 is quite different. The Israel military doesn't take all eligible women, = but=20 rather selects the number it needs to meet personnel quotas each year, = and once=20 a combat unit deploys, women soldiers are generally evacuated.

As a result, the U.S. military is in the vanguard of women serving in = the=20 military.

"This is a time in world history that women are actually serving in=20 unprecedented roles =97 not because they have the military occupational = specialty,=20 but because they're there," Moore says.

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