Persuasive Essay 2

Persuasive Essay – Women In Combat Roles In The Military Essay, Research Paper

Women in the United States have long fought for the right to be included in many facets of society such as the right to vote to breaking into professions like the medical field and getting females elected to major government offices. But one of the most intriguing questions of integration has yet to be fully answered. Apart from all others is the battle to allow women the right, the honor, and the privilege of serving and defending their country as part of the United States Armed Forces. Being in the military means prestige, honor, pride, and the satisfaction that comes along with engaging what is considered one of the most valiant and traditionally revered professions in our country. However, there has always been and continues to be considerable debate in this country as to exactly what extent women should be allowed to serve their country, and what the effects and trade-offs of such integration might be. Sex scandals such as what happened at the Tailhook convention in 1991 or the misconduct of former Lt. Kelly Flinn have served to raise questions about military integration. Can female and male military personnel be combined without the military losing some of its effectiveness. Can women be as good at being soldiers, sailors, naval aviators and fighter pilots as men. Should women be allowed in the line of fire and in direct combat. What role should sexual harassment and fraternization play in the combination of women into the military.

The real question, essentially, is not whether women can serve in any military capacity at all. The real question is whether or not women should be allowed in combat. To understand this debate it is important, as it is with any such discussion, to put the issue into historical context to better understand where things stand today. The following are some notable events to date in the evolution of the effort to get women more involved in the military thus far.

In every major war until World War II, thousands of women served in the military in traditional roles such as nurses, office staff, and the like. But as WWII broke out, sheer need, often the best equal opportunity employer, led to the creation of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the Navy’s Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), the Coast Guard’s Semper Paratus: Always Ready (SPARs), which is their motto. The Marines and what was to later become the Air Force also began to accept women applicants.

In 1976, the three service academies all accepted their first class of women. While it was long debated whether women could compete and excel in the kind of environment that service academies are known for, at least the scholastic questions were answered when one of the female cadets at West Point was recently named the valedictorian of her graduating class.

On Tuesday, October 21, 1997, the United States government dedicated a new memorial at the Arlington War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Named the Women in Military Service for America Memorial , it was the first national monument of its kind that recognized those who fought and died in the protection of their country. Women have faced two fights when it came to the Armed Services, the first being the right and honor of serving their country and secondly on the battlefield itself. While women are now capable of being both enlisted personnel and officers in the military, a new question arises – should the role of women in the military finally be expanded to allow them to fight for their country in direct combat.

Many experts argue that when it comes to women in the military, there are over-riding reasons why the proverbial line must be drawn when it comes to making women part of America’s combat force. Among the most strenuous objections to the proposed integration comes from male officers and enlisted men themselves, whose primary fear is that this proposed change would have the potentially cataclysmic effect of significantly weakening the effectiveness of the U.S. military. They say that this change could cause a decline in the cohesion and the effectiveness of the troops, elements that could quite literally mean the difference between life and death. The most commonly cited reasons are: women are physically incapable of the tasks and strains that come along with combat, the risk of sexual misconduct that accompanies the combination in close proximity of young men and young women for long periods of time, the incalculable expense of accommodating women onboard combat vessels, and the risks and consequences of pregnancy. In a report to Congress entitled “Summary of Presidential Commission Findings and Record in Support of Alternative Views”, it was pointed out that the need for a superior military must outweigh any civil rights claim, no matter how noble or seemingly justified. “Civil society protects individual rights, but the military, which protects civil society, must be governed by different rules, civilian society forbids employment discrimination, but lives and combat missions might be put at risk by service members who cannot meet the demands of the battlefield, the military must be able to choose those most able to survive, fight and win.”

Most studies show that women are biologically weaker than men. They are smaller in stature and have weaker skeletons and upper bodies and cannot do as mu