Rowan Scarborough appears to be somewhat informed and educated about the military as a reporter goes
Washington Times July 31, 2012
Army May Train Women For Rigor Of Front Lines Studies predict injury, attrition
Some parts I find it interesting
Washington Times July 31, 2012
Army May Train Women For Rigor Of Front Lines Studies predict injury, attrition
Some parts I find it interesting
The Washington Times asked the training command whether it plans to require women to meet the same physical standards as men if female soldiers begin infantry training at Fort Benning, Ga. The command basically said yes.
"In preparation for this potential future decision, TRADOC is starting the long-term process of gathering data to provide the Army decision-makers the information they need to determine the way forward," the command stated. "That said, an example we currently have would be the Sapper Leader Course, where both female and male soldiers attend. The standards throughout the course are the same for all soldiers who attend."
Since June 2010, women, who make up 2.5 percent of Sapper students, have a graduation rate of 60 percent, compared with 52 percent for men, according to the training command.
In a second study, the British Defense Ministry conducted an extensive two-year assessment of women and their ability to perform routine ground combat tasks, such as lifting and carrying gear over certain distances.
Its May 2002 findings, in a report titled "Women in the Armed Forces," were not encouraging for advocates of women in combat.
The study concluded that only 0.1 percent of female applicants and 1 percent of trained female soldiers "would reach the required standards to meet the demands of these roles."
"The military viewpoint was that under the conditions of a high intensity close-quarter battle, group cohesion becomes of much greater significance to team performance and, in such an environment, the consequences of failure can have far-reaching and grave consequences," the report stated. "To admit women would, therefore, involve a risk with no gains in terms of combat effectiveness to offset it."
That year [2010], a group of U.S. Army physicians studied one brigade combat team deployed to Iraq in 2007.
Their study, published in the journal Military Medicine, examined the number of soldiers who sustained a disease or noncombat injury. Of 4,122 soldiers (325 women in support roles), 1,324 had a disease or injury that forced them to miss time or be evacuated.
"Females, compared with males, had a significantly increased incident-rate ratio for becoming a [disease or noncombat] casualty," the doctors found.
Of 47 female soldiers evacuated from the brigade, 35 - or 74 percent - were for "pregnancy-related issues." Women had more than triple the evacuation rate of men.
"I infer from this that women are twice as likely to suffer non-battle injuries in current specialties," William Gregor, a professor of social sciences at the Army's Command and Staff College, told The Times. "They will probably have a greater injury rate in heavy physical occupational specialties and the combat arms. The British experience with gender-free or neutral training standards suggests the injury rate will dramatically increase."