[Vision2020] Women in the Infantry? Could Happen . . . Soon

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the May 28, 2012 edition of the Army Times.

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March Toward Infantry

Odierno expects plan for women in combat arms by fall

The Army is looking at opening the core of the combat arms — 

infantry and armor specialties and even Ranger school — to female soldiers, the service’s top officer said May 16.

The study, led by Training and Doctrine Command, is part of a sweeping review to expand opportunities for women in com bat-related jobs, and it comes after the Army opened six mili tary occupational specialties to women and started placing women in combat units at the battalion level.

“We have to continue to attempt to look at, do we open up infantry and armor MOSs to females?” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said during a briefing at the Pentagon. “We’re really now in collecting information, and we’re setting a course forward on how we might take a look at this.” No decisions have been made, Odierno added.

“What we want to do is bring information up to the [Army] sec retary and I, so we can look at it and decide the way forward on how we want to progress in potentially opening up these posi tions,” he said.

If the Army decides to open the infantry and armor specialties to women, it would make sense to also allow them to attend Ranger school so they can be competitive, Odierno said.

About 90 percent of the Army’s senior infantry officers have earned the Ranger tab, he said.

“If we determine that we’re going to allow women to go in the infantry and be successful, they are probably at some time going to have to go through Ranger school,” Odierno said. “We have not made that decision yet, but it’s a factor that I have asked them to take a look at and, again, to come back to us as we look at this problem. … If we decide to do this, we want the women to be successful, and how do we make them most successful? That’s what we’ve asked them to do, to gather data, come back to us, so the secretary and I can chart a way forward.” Army Times obtained a copy of a memorandum that indicated that women could start infantry officer basic as early as this fall, with those who pass being allowed to go to Ranger school.

The Army’s review mirrors a move by the Marine Corps, which announced in April that female volunteers will be allowed to enroll in the Infantry Officers Course later this year. Their per formance will be monitored close ly and used to inform a recom mendation the Corps will make in mid-November to Defense Sec retary Leon Panetta, officials have said.

The Army also is scheduled to report its findings regarding women in the Army to Panetta in November. 

‘Managing talent’ 

The movement to expand more combat-related roles to women in uniform follows a new Defense Department policy.

In October, when the policy was still in the works, Odierno said he wanted to open more doors to female soldiers.

“We need them there,” he said at the time. “We need their talent. This is about managing talent. We have incredibly talented females who should be in those positions. We have work to do within [DoD] to get them to recog nize and change.” In late April, the Army announced it would start placing women in as many as 14,000 com bat-related jobs by opening up six MOSs. That policy was imple mented May 14.

“The last 11 years of warfare have really revealed to us there are no front lines,” Brig. Gen. Barrye Price, director of human resources policy at the Army G-1 (personnel) told Army Times. “There are no rear echelons. Everybody was vulnerable to the influence of the enemy.” Women make up almost 16 per cent of the Army, and have served in more than 78 percent of the Army’s occupations.

More than 135,000 female sol diers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, earning more than 400 valor awards, including two Silver Stars, the nation’s third highest award for valor, Price said.

More than 77 have been killed in action, and another 853 were wounded, he said. 

Assessing the impact 

There are two parts to the effort to open up combat-related jobs to women, Price said.

First, the Army will place women in 37 battalions in nine of its 45 active-duty brigade combat teams.

These soldiers will be placed in MOSs that already are open to women, Price said. However, women didn’t previously serve in these units because regardless of their MOS, they were barred from being assigned to combat units below the brigade level.

The removal of this policy opens up 755 billets at the battalion headquarters level to women in 10 officer and six enlisted special ties, Price said. He expects about 350 of those billets will be filled by women.

The changes will affect quali fied second lieutenants through captains and noncommissioned officers in the grades of sergeant through sergeant first class.

The Army will start with the nine BCTs so it can more easily assess the impact of the exception to policy, Price said.

The Army also is eliminating a provision that banned women from being “co-located” with units that are directly or routinely involved in combat.

This opens up six MOSs in 80 units that had never been open to women, Price said. The Army plans to recruit new soldiers who want to enter these specialties, Price said, but it also is seeking soldiers who want to reclassify and retrain into these jobs. 

About these two ongoing initia tives, Odierno on May 16 said, “My guess is, based on my experi ence in Iraq and what I’ve seen in Afghanistan, we’ll then move for ward with a more permanent solution inside of the Army proba bly sometime this fall.” 

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A member of a female engagement team works with Afghan national security forces in Afghanistan. Soon women may be allowed into the infantry, armor and possibly Ranger school.

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The Infantry Creed

I am the Infantry
I am my country's strength in war,
her deterrant in peace.
I am the heart of the fight
whereever, whenever.
I carry America's faith and honor
against her enemies.
I am the Queen of Battle.
I am what my country expects me to be,
the best trained soldier in the world
in the race for victory.
I am swift, determined, and courageous,
armed with a fierce will to win.
Never will I fail my country's trust.
Always will I fight on
through the foe, to the objective, to triumph over all.
If neccessary I will fight to my death.
By my steadfast courage I have won 200 years of freedom.
I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds.
For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight.
I forsake not my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty.
I am relentless
I am always there, now and forever
I am the Infantry
Follow me!

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown