Around the Water Cooler: Ban on women in combat

Do you support Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s decision to lift the Pentagon’s ban on women in combat roles?

• Lisa Pampuch: Yes, and this is long overdue. Women have been injured (see Rep. Duckworth, D-WI, who lost two legs in combat in Iraq) and killed in combat for years. This change opens career and promotion options for military women that weren’t available to them without it.
• Kathleen Sullivan: Yes, we no longer have the traditional type of front-line warfare, so the danger can be in any area. Man and women who choose to serve should be allowed to have the same treatment. Areas of advancement have been withheld from women who do not receive credit for being in hazard zones.
• Jeff Nunes: Yes, but only because we have an all volunteer, professional military and I trust that our military commanders will ultimately put only the most capable of soldiers where they need to be to serve their mission.  I’m not certain that as a nation we are prepared for seeing our mothers and daughters return from battlefields in caskets but how they serve is ultimately their own choice.  
• Dennis Kennedy: Yes! It’s long overdue.
• Hank Miller: Yes. I understand that it will be voluntary and I wonder if that will cause difficulties in personnel assignments. But its time has come.
• Chris Bryant: Yes, it’s about time that fitness for military jobs were measure by capabilities and not sex.
• Dave Appling: Yes, absolutely. The decision reflects our all-volunteer services’ needs in today’s wars without front lines, as well as fairness to servicewomen. It rightly allows for ad hoc exceptions. Some caveats: • Equal opportunity doesn’t imply equal outcomes. • Realize there’s no modesty or chivalry in foxholes. • Standards must be capability-based, tailored to the job, and gender-neutral. • Sexual harassment issues will need increased command attention. 
• Karen Anderson: Yes. A grand experiment BUT I do worry about the treatment of women as prisoners of war.  They are not entirely safe from their own fellow male soldiers. 
• Rene Spring: Yes. However, I also hope that all our troops overseas come home soon and safe. Thanks to all who serve our great nation and keep us safe.
• David Cohen: Yes. Women in military are already performing in combat roles, whether in a support function behind the lines or as pilots on the line. This is a good thing for the military and the country.
• Julian Mancias: Yes. You can’t qualify equality.
• Bert Berson: Yes. It is merely a recognition of the current reality. Some women will be suited for certain roles and others will not. Just like men.