Why Are Women Not Allowed In Combat In The U.S. Armed Forces?

barbie

because if a woman is injured during battle, men will instinctively try to protect/help the woman....their focus broken. but if men see men injured, they just carry on.

basically, if women ever get onto the frontline, then for it to be effective, all the men must leave. and that wont work either because there are many things women physically cant do.

thus an army will avoid sending women to the front line.

Josh

Physically they aren't as strong as men are and so why send someone into combat who if captured will be raped and who are more likely to get hurt or killed

teenzyla92

they are but not as combat MOSs, Rates, or Specialty codes

Lu W

Do you REALLY not know?

Do you mean direct combat jobs like infantry or do you mean combat in general? I'm going to answer under the assumption that you are taking about combat jobs.

The legal reason is because Congress prohibits it. Trying to get it overturned is highly unlikely.

The reasoning is because the average woman isn't as fast or strong as the average male. True, there are some women out there who could probably do it (like triathletes) but most wouldn't be able to meet the physical standards for those jobs. Also, it is possible that some men, after seeing a female troop hurt, will stop what they are doing to help her, abandoning his mission in the process.

They can go to combat zones but their jobs while over there are limited.

If your in Iraq and jessica alba is next to you are you going to be focused on the mission your suppose to be doing or her lol

Notorious Nate

Whether or not they are allowed in combat is irrelevant. Women are designed for a purpose and men are designed for a purpose and to put women on the battle field is going against that purpose and will inevitably be destructive to the goal of battle. But equality and certain groups pushing for certain right have screwed everything up. I pray for this world and it's corruption.

frichalf

Women are allowed in combat, its the military! Women are just not allowed into combat jobs. Now a days a combat situation can pop up anywhere in a hostile area, since there are no lines in the battle field. So that means a supply female soldier on a convoy could kill enemies just as easily as an infantryman can.

Eric S

In the end, women do not belong in ground combat, they are more of a liability than an asset, this is always ignored when it is discussed in the Media, in Congress or on here. Below is some good info for you that I have cut and paster from my previous answers on the same topic.

From the report of the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces dated November 15, 1992, it states in part:

The average female Army recruit is 4.8 inches shorter, 31.7 pounds lighter, has 37.4 fewer pounds of muscle, and 5.7 more pounds of fat than the average male recruit. She has only 55 percent of the upper-body strength and 72 percent of the lower-body strength.

An Army study done in 1988 found that women are more than twice as likely to suffer leg injuries and nearly five times as likely to suffer fractures as men.

Further, the Commission heard an abundance of expert testimony including:
- women's aerobic capacity is significantly lower, meaning they cannot carry as much as far as fast as men, and they are more susceptible to fatigue.
- in terms of physical capability, the upper five percent of women are at the level of the male median. The average 20-to-30 year-old woman has the same aerobic capacity as a 50 year-old man.

After a study was conducted at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, one expert testified that:
- using the standard Army Physical Fitness Test, the upper quintile (top 20%) of women at West point achieved scores on the test equivalent to the bottom quintile (bottom 20%) of men.
- only 21 women out of the initial 623 (3.4%) achieved a score equal to the male mean score of 260.
- on the push-up test, only 7% of women can meet a score of 60, while 78% of men exceed it.
- adopting a male standard of fitness at West Point would mean 70% of the women he studied would be separated as failures at the end of their junior year, only 3% would be eligible for the Recondo badge, and not one would receive the Army Physical Fitness badge.

Also, recent studies indicate women are more at risk to getting PTSD, as documented from Iraq and Afghanistan, women who were never in direct combat but whose camps were shelled were more likely to develop PTSD than there male counter-parts. You can also look up the US Navy SPARTAN study, women were asked to complete a lot of the Damage Control Tasks that are mandatory on a ship. They performed in a rather terrible manner at the start. The women were then put on a 6 month weight training program and asked to do the test again. A lot of the test are obsolete since the P-250 pump is no longer in use but the one that will never go out is the two man litter carry up and down the ladder on a ship. None of the women passed getting the wounded man up the ladder and <2% passed going down ( a lot easier I might add). What did the Navy do in regard to this result? They changed the standard to a four man litter carry. Ever been on a ship? Good luck with 4 people fitting on that! lol!
Don't ignore the truth because it does not fit your premise, I have no doubt that women can be just as brave as a man but it does me no good when she cannot get me back to my helo, hummer or foxhole because she is to weak. It does me no good when she cannot hump the same weight I can for as long as I can because she is physically unable to do so. It does me no good when she is injured more easily than a man, etc..etc...DO NOT LOOK AT THIS AS A RIGHT, LOOK AT THIS AS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE, do you really want the weakest person doing that job? Do not fall for the myth that if we have the same standards for all that it will be ok then, the standards will be dropped so low that someone in a wheel chair could pass them due to politics, look at the SPARTAN Study! lol! They would rather risk peoples lives than hold a standard and stick there necks out and risk there careers! (They being the Officer Corps). If you are honest in your assessment, you would say that while women may be ok to be pilots, they have no place in areas of ground combat and/or even on ships in many instances due to physical differences.

Edit-also, the asker and some of the people answering obviously have no clue what they are talking about-
Women are not in combat positions, some have been shot and shelled, yes, but that has happened in every war we have had. Congress forbids direct combat and if you have been in the service long enough you will also figure out that they should not be on ships or be in other areas, again due to physical differences. Stop looking at combat as an entitlement, it is not that, you endanger everyone when you cannot meet standards and while the Navy can slide on not having standards since they are not in the war, the Marines, Army and SOF community cannot. Wake up and stop thinking you should just be allowed to do it because you are born here, it is not your right to endanger my life or my platoons lives!!!

desertviking_00

Because a Federal law prohibits assigning women to combat arms jobs. That law was lobbied for by the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service (DACOWITS), a panel mad up of civilian business women and active and retired female members of the Armed Forces.

Big Woof

They are more so now. However, traditionally you do not send your child bearers into combat. One man can impregnate 50 women. Fifty men can only impregnate one woman.

DoubleL

Women are not allowed into combat related fields in the US Army. Armor, Artillery, Combat Engineers and Infantry. They are physically demanding and most (no, not all) women do not possess the strength to perform these duties.

Also there is the social taboo of placing women in the direct line of fire though they are taking active rolls in combat situations as gunners on vehicles, helicopter pilots and MPs.

âŒ¡MacâŒ

Congress chooses not to allow women to be placed in such positions. This will change with time. Write your Congressman and Senators and let them know how you feel and find out how they feel on this subject.

claudiacake

They are allowed in combat.

dani the great

They are allowed to now .

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