This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 28, 2013 - For many area servicewomen and veterans, the military’s decision to lift the official ban on women serving in direct combat roles can be summed up in three words: It’s about time.
Shirley Janes, 62, of St. Louis, who retired as a senior master sergeant from the Air Force after 20 years of service, described the action as long overdue because women are already on the front lines.
"It’s something that should have happened a long time ago,’’ said Janes, who is a past post commander of St. Louis Service Women’s Post 404, one of only a handful of all-women American Legion posts in the nation. "As long as it is set up to where we make sure that we’re not setting up the women to fail, I think it’s a good thing.’’
Janes said she recognizes that not every woman can meet the qualifications of serving with the infantry in the forward areas of war, but neither can all men.
"My biggest fear is that we would start changing the rules and changing the qualifications and then it could be thrown out: 'You see. We let women into combat and we changed the rules and now what.’ But I really believe the joint chiefs will do things the way they know they should,’’ said Janes, who is also the finance officer for the Missouri American Legion. She served in support of Operation Desert Storm at Scott Air Force Base.
About 275 women belong to Post 404. Members have served from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan and represent all branches of the military. During Thursday’s historic announcement, Janes was among a group from Post 404 traveling to Kansas City to attend the installation of officers for a new all-women American Legion post there -- an outward sign of the growing numbers of women who have served in the U.S. military.
Gloria Barnes, 67, of Festus, Post 404’s current commander, said it’s about time women in the military had the same opportunities as men.
“If you put on that uniform, it should be an equal playing field. Like the ladies who are in combat now. If you’re in Afghanistan, to me, you’re in combat,’’ Barnes said.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the decision to rescind the 1994 assignment rule that prevented women from being assigned to combat positions. The ban had included units, below the brigade level, which have a primary mission to engage in direct combat on the ground, including infantry, artillery, armor, combat engineers, and special operations units.
What they’re saying
Sen. Roy Blunt R-Mo. told reporters Thursday that he believes the military had reached an inevitable conclusion.
"Women have been more and more frequently in combat roles, as the [combat] front is harder and harder to define. If women are going to serve in the military, they are likely to be in combat roles,’’ said Blunt, a member of the Senate Armed Services committee. "Not every woman would want to volunteer and be part of the forward combat units, nor does every man. And not every woman will meet the physical rigors of some of those units, nor does every man."
-- Robert Koenig
Panetta said that for the past decade, women have been contributing in unprecedented ways to the nation’s defense. He noted that 152 women in uniform have died while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Female service members have faced the reality of combat, proven their willingness to fight and, yes, to die to defend their fellow Americans,’’ he said.
Panetta said the 200,000 women who comprise 15 percent of the U.S. military are performing a growing number of critical roles on and off the battlefield.
"Our purpose is to ensure that the mission is carried out by the best qualified and the most capable service members, regardless of gender and regardless of creed and beliefs. If members of our military can meet the qualifications for a job -- and let me be clear, I'm not talking about reducing the qualifications for the job -- if they can meet the qualifications for the job, then they should have the right to serve, regardless of creed or color or gender or sexual orientation.’’
National Guard will respond
Since word of Panetta’s announcement, Major Tammy Spicer, a public affairs officer with the Missouri National Guard, has been fielding calls from the media. She said the Guard found out about the decision on Wednesday “with the rest of the world.’’
"We’re excited about it, and we’re ready to support the changes that are going to come down the pike,’’ said Spicer who has served in the military for 23 years.
Spicer said that the Guard, as well as the civilian and military population as a whole, recognizes that women are already serving -- and dying -- in combat.
What they’re saying
Sen. Claire McCaskill D-Mo., who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Beacon that Panetta was making official a transition that was already under way in the military.
"We have women who have been performing in combat stress situations, and now it is acknowledged. And there will now be more opportunities for women who want to serve in that capacity,” McCaskill said. She noted that women are being trained at Fort Leonard Wood as engineers to clear minefields and to go into combat environments and repair airfields, or prepare airfields.
"We have a number of women who have gotten Purple Hearts, but there are other women who have been denied the kind of awards that they deserve because they ‘were not in combat,’ ’’ she said.
-- Robert Koenig
"Really, what this announcement means to us is that there are more opportunities for women and that commanders get to select from a larger pool of soldiers to do jobs. We see this as win-win, both for the women and for the commanders,’’ said Spicer, who served in Operation Desert Storm with the Army and in Iraq with the Guard.
About 1,650 women -- of 11,400 soldiers and airmen -- currently serve with the Missouri Guard, Spicer said. There are about 1,150 “direct ground combat unit” positions currently not open to women. Those positions include infantry, field artillery and combat engineers, although women can be assigned as administrative clerks or supply specialists in support of those units.
"That is the number that has the potential to be opened to women,’’ Spicer said. “But keep in mind this is not going to happen quickly. This is a big change and it’s going to be implemented thoughtfully and deliberately to make sure that we get it right. What we’ll be doing in the Missouri National Guard is following the guidance passed to us by the Army and the Force.’’
Sgt. First Class Melissa Squires, who has been deployed to Iraq and Qatar with the Guard, said she was happy and also concerned by Panetta’s decision.
Squires said that although the announcement will open a window to more units for more women, she is concerned that it included a way out should elite units -- such as the Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Green Berets -- still want to exclude women.
"If a woman wants to join an elite unit that she should be able to,’’ said Squires, who has served in the military for 25 years. "But I don’t think we should have different physical requirements for those units.''
Squires said she would have been interested in trying to join a special forces unit when she enlisted in the Army in 1987 had the special forces been open to women. She believes the door will open further as more women prove that they can meet the requirements.
"I know female officers who could actually do the job of special forces -- and they’re great leaders and they raise families,’’ said Squires who joined the Guard in 1991.
Squires drew a distinction between units that end up fighting on the front line and special forces units that purposely put themselves there.
"If you purposely go and make yourself the front line, it is a little different than going out on a mission like we did and having snipers we would have to engage. If you’re being shot at, you’re being shot at, but I think there is a difference with units that purposely make themselves the front lines,’’ she said. "But if a woman wants to do it, she should be able to, and she should have to meet the same demanding requirements as men, because there’s a reason for them.”
'My only limitation was my gender'
Jill Berkland, 36, of St. Louis who served in the Air Force for four years, said she enlisted for patriotic reasons, and scored high on the vocational tests.
"My only limitation was my gender,’’ she said. "I was specifically told, ‘Oh, you're smart enough to do whatever you want. But the government doesn't trust you to work the front lines since you're a girl.’ ‘’
Berkland said she chose to work as a crew chief on F-15s, a job that included troubleshooting and maintenance of aircraft, as well as launch, recovery and inspections.
"Women have been in forward combat roles for over a decade and it is high time their employer formally recognized that fact,’’ she said. "When you give a woman from supply or finance an M-16 and ask her to fire upon the enemy, it may not be classified as 'infantry,' per se, but she is in combat. There have been lives and limbs lost that illustrate this.’’
Berkland noted that some who oppose women in combat say they are concerned that women will be a distraction in training and missions.
"Perhaps it's time for everyone to learn how to focus on missions instead of possible hang-ups. The naysayers are the biggest distraction of all,’’ she said.
Lowry Finley-Jackson, 50, who retired as an Army master sergeant after 20 years of service, said she was reassigned from her original duty assignment as an artillery radar crewman when it was reclassified as a combat MOS (military operation specialty) in the early 1980s.
"I think they should never have taken women out of the combat MOS when they did,’’ she said. “This is long overdue because now women can be considered equal to the men in the military.’’
Finley-Jackson is a member of Post 404 and also the assistant adjutant for the state American Legion.
Shirley Walz, 71, a retired Navy nurse and Naval Reservist, who served in the Vietnam and the Persian Gulf wars, said that concerns raised over whether men and women can serve together in forward positions can be dealt with, just as firefighters and police officers deal with issues in the civilian world.
"In our civilian life we see some of the same things happening, but we hope everybody has common sense and respect and courtesy for everybody else,’’ she said.
Walz, who retired with the rank of commander, said she watched the role of women grow during her 33 years of military service. She also noted how hard women had to work to break down barriers and be admitted to the military academies.
"None of those women serving on the front lines is going to say, ‘We need a lesser standard.’ They just want to be recognized for the standard they’ve already reached,’’ she said.
