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“Women in combat” is a controversial issue among members of the military, politicians,
and the public. However, on March 7, 2011, the Military Leadership Diversity Commission
(MLDC) released a report recommending that DoD eliminate combat exclusion policies
for women. The present exclusion policies stem from a 1994 memorandum by then-Secretary
of Defense Les Aspin. The memo states, “women shall be excluded from assignment to
units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat
on the ground.” It also bars women where privacy costs are prohibitive, units physically
collocate with direct ground combat units, units are engaged in long range reconnaissance
or Special Forces missions, and physical requirements would exclude most women service
members. The Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 requires that the Secretary
of Defense notify Congress at least 30 days prior to the implementation of any changes
to these policies.
The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) concurred with
the MLDC’s recommendation in its annual report. In addition, On February 9, 2012,
in partial-response to the MLDC report, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave notice
of the intent to eliminate the co-location portion of the policy and to permit women
to serve at the battalion level in military occupational specialties (MOS) already
open to them. Yet, neither the MLDC report nor the DACOWITS annual report explains
how DoD should implement the elimination of combat exclusion policies for women.
Similarly, the February 9th report to Congress outlines few details and indicates
that significant research, resources, time and effort are needed. The report concludes,
“changes to DoD’s policies will require time to implement fully. There are serious
practical barriers, which if not approached in a deliberate manner, could adversely
impact the health of our Service members and degrade mission accomplishment.” There
are concerns regarding cohesion, good order and discipline, privacy, physical differences
between men and women, pregnancy and menstruation, effects on military families, and
cultural norms.
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