Women to be cleared for combat duty

Today, a defense official has told the media that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is giving the okay for women to serve on active duty in several positions in combat.

On Thursday, Secretary Panetta will announce that the exclusion of women in ground combat will be eliminated. Previously, women below the level of brigade would be excluded from direct combat.

Keep in mind that will not take effect immediately and is only really opening up review and study of the situation. But, we are moving to the point of having women as boots on the ground soldiers in combat.

There are over 200,000 women currently in the armed forces who may be affected, with roughly 5,000 being Marines.

Because this is only a preliminary step toward female infantrymen, for lack of a better word, women will not be in direct combat forces until at least 2015.

In fact, this will even allow the branches of the armed forces to develop guidelines and even exceptions to this rule.

People are probably on both sides of this. It's not been an American ideal to see its women on the front lines being killed in combat. Is the United States ready for this?

Like it or not, there is something a little disconcerting at the thought of our daughters coming home in coffins. No, this is not making it seem that sons are different. Civilization seems to have always held women and girls in a different light.

It should also be noted that women have already been serving, if not at the front lines, certainly combat areas. There will just be more direct involvement of women in combat.

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Female War Veterans Run For Office

The past few years has seen plenty of war action for our men and women in the military. From Iraq to Afghanistan, our military has been very active doing their jobs, serving this country. Because of newer guidelines and old barriers being broken, women are now seeing roles in what is in effect, combat. The United States for the first time in history has many women returning as "real" war time veterans. Never before have women taken such an active role. There are a few female combat veterans now running for political office. Here are the ones we know about.

Tammy Duckworth was a captain with the Army National Guard. She was co-pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter that was struck down in Iraq, 2004. She lost parts of both legs. This is her second time running. She is an Illinois Democrat running against Tea Party freshman Joe Walsh. Duckworth was also assistant secretary at Veterans Affairs. They are running for The House of Representatives. Tammy Duckworth has just paid $2000 in back taxes and penalties due to improperly taking two homeowner exemptions.

Tulsi Gabbard was also with the Army National Guard. This specialist in the medical unit, 29th Brigade, trained Kuwaiti anti-terrorism units. Gabbard is 31 and resides in Hawaii. She is a democrat, running for a seat in The House of Representatives.

An Air Force Academy graduate, Martha McSally, is actually the first women to ever fly a fighter in real combat. Her aircraft? An A-10 Warthog (A-10 Thunderbolt II). She also commanded a fighter squadron, also a first for females. McSally, a Republican, is vying for the seat formerly held by Gabrielle Giffords.

Think your vote does not matter? It matters to the races these women are in. Just like all other political races. So, get out and vote. Only you can make a difference in where this country is headed. Your vote serves two purposes. It puts people in office who will do the right thing, but it also prevents people who should not be elected.

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All-Women SeaBee team in Afghanistan

The Seabees have a long history. Starting in 1942 as fighting construction companies in the Navy. Men were the only Seabees until 1972. The first woman was Carmella Jones.

But because of the fact that these were companies that could see combat, woman were not really much of a part of the Seabees if they were in combat areas.

In 1994, the rules were changed and women were allowed to be with mobile construction companies.

Recently, an all-female construction crew completed projects in Afghanistan.

Their work was completed in the Helmand Province, which is a very remote are and under influence of the Taliban.

This all-women construction team did a magnificent job. They completed the entire project in less time than projected. The built a command center, a gym, and berthing units.

These women are all part of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, stationed near Ventura, California. The battalion has over 600 servicemen and women. The women in this team were from Detachment 4. Normally this unit sends small teams from up to about 15 members for projects.

Apparently nobody knew the team picked was all women until by chance someone noticed they were no men involved.

This is a list of the women involved.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Gafayat Moradeyo
Petty Officer 3rd Class Amber Mann
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jessica Vera
Petty Officer 3rd Class Kadisha Lee
Seaman Kacie Dunlavey
Constructionman Shelby Lutrey
Seaman Shayla Miles
Seaman Carla Diazcastillo

Let's get more good stories about out men and women serving in Afghanistan.

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Navy to allow women on submarines

The Pentagon gave the go ahead to eliminate a ban on women serving on submarines. This was revealed in a letter sent by Secretary Gates to lawmakers. Women could begin to be assigned sub duty as early as next year.

Did you know that about 15% of the over 300,000 people serving at sea are women?

Of course, submarines are different. It is a very closed environment. The term "hot bunking" is a submarine term. Because of lack of space, two people can share a bunk. That is, sleep while the other works, then reverse. One person keeps the bunk "hot," so to speak.

Apparently the first to see duty on a submarine would be women officers. The reason? Officers normally do not have to "hot bunk" and have separate quarters.

Members of congress have thirty days to render an opinion.

Army General George Casey, who appeared before the Senate on Tuesday, said that in effect this is just another step of re-examining women in combat roles and expanding them.

We at this blog have always took the position that at no time, here or in the past, have we ever needed women to do such duties. But life moves on. There does not seem much stomach anymore for keeping men and women separate, as well as making combat a male-only role any more. That to us is a sad statement about our society.

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