By Gen. Frederick J. Kroesen, U.S. Army retired
January 1, 2016, is the deadline for the military services
to integrate women into the Infantry, Armor, Field Artillery and Special Forces
combat units. It is contended that this will offer an equal opportunity for
advancement up the promotion chain to the highest levels of command for both
men and women.
Many tests, surveys and polls have been conducted during the
past year, most of which have determined that physical strength and stamina
will have to be gender-normed in order for the requirements to be fair and
equally achieved; if they are gender-neutral, the standards will have to be
much less demanding.
Test results and surveys have not been widely disseminated,
but leakage seems to establish that men are five to six times more likely to
meet standards being tested. This does not deny that some women are able to
match the average male measurements, but very few match the higher scores
posted by many men. Such findings are no surprise to anyone who recognizes that
we have separate Olympic events for men and women, we have separate
professional sports leagues, and we have separate world’s records for most everything
requiring physical skills. The first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, who
comes in ahead of a thousand men, also loses to a hundred or so men who crossed
the line minutes before her.
For some reason, there have not been tests, surveys, polls or
agitation aimed at integrating women into the Chicago Bears or the St. Louis
Cardinals, and no demand that the Professional Golfers’ Association and Ladies
Professional Golf Association be merged so women have an equal opportunity to
be golfer of the year or win the money title. Apparently, however, the armed
forces are different. Despite the fact that infantry warfare is often a
life-or-death matter, quite often requiring strength and stamina to survive, we
are asked to man our teams at a reduced capability.
Sgt. Amanda Olmeda in an
observation tower on Forward Operating Base Fenty in Afghanistan.
(Credit: U.S. Army/Sgt. 1st Class John D. Brown)
I am not aware of the names or qualifications of the various
study groups or the means and values used by the testers that are determining
the final recommendations. I hope, however, that they have consulted with some
combat infantry veterans—for example, those who fought in the Huertgen Forest,
Pointe du Hoc, the Battle of the Bulge, Pork Chop Hill, Outpost Harry, the retreat
from the Chosin Reservoir or Hamburger Hill—and their views on whether their
effectiveness would be improved or diminished or perhaps not affected at all if
wives, mothers, sisters or daughters had been present. Those were all occasions
that resembled line play in the National Football League without the rules that
prevent lethal mayhem.
None of us wants to deny women the right to military
careers. Nobody wants to question their determination to excel or to interfere
with their willingness to die for their country, but we want them to do those
things in positions at which they do as well or better than men. Infantry
combat is not one of them.
The advocates for this policy change do not seem to realize
that assigning women to the Infantry will consign them to second-class status.
Most will be less capable than their male counterparts, and their efficiency
reports, always a comparative measurement, will have a negative impact on their
assignments and promotions. Their careers will be affected—probably stunted—unless,
of course, a quota system that will further reduce squad, platoon and company
effectiveness is adopted.
The armed forces are again complying with policy dictates of
our government, and they deserve credit for the exhaustive effort expended to
find a way. We can only hope that a final review of the effects of the proposal
will result in reconsideration and a decision that the policy be abandoned.
Congress, constitutionally the provider of our national defense, should make
the final decision.
* * * *
Gen. Frederick J. Kroesen, USA Ret.,
formerly served as Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and commander in chief
of U.S. Army Europe. He is a senior fellow of AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare.
- See more at: http://www.armymagazine.org/2015/01/26/infantrywomen-what-the-evaluations-are-not-considering#sthash.RWZhhcV9.dpuf
