The United States of America has a formidable military force. Thousands of men and women have been at the forefront of the nation’s military endeavors, and these members are admired for their dedication to their country. However, for women, their expression of dedication is limited: Women are not permitted to fight on the front line. Until this past Thursday, women were unable to serve in any occupations that involved being close to the front line. In a country where women have been granted such a vast array of other civil rights, rarely any attention is paid to their inequality in combat.
The Pentagon has just taken a small yet significant step to breaking down that barrier. According to an article published in The New York Times last Thursday, women can now be permanently assigned to a battalion, potentially serving as mechanics or medics. However, the article also concedes that women just on a temporary basis already fill many of these positions. Despite this theoretical ban, many women have come under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of infantry foot patrols, a reality that provides further justification for the issue to be reviewed much more carefully. When the actual front line is concerned, the inclusion of women is controversial. Physical differences between men and women raise concerns over female capability. The issue should come down to equality of opportunity for both sexes. If men and women receive identical training and acquire the same skill set, they should be afforded the opportunity to voluntarily use them in the same way.
This is definitely a breakthrough for women to get closer to the front line, but it’s an issue that will continue to evolve as dialogue increases. When assessments of trainees are conducted, who fights on the front line should depend on their capability, not whether they are male or female. Whether or not women on the front line will compromise America’s success in combat would be an issue if these women didn’t endure a comparably grueling training experience. Hopefully, these new rules will open a much larger realm of opportunity for women in the military.
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