 If a child is hurt or trapped under a car a mother's first instinct is not to run away screaming or to stand there in shock, her first instinct is to save that child from that danger. An adrenaline rush is a possibility in order to save their child from whatever danger they are in. Many people think that in combat a woman's first reactions will be detrimental to the mission. They assume women will not be able to respond like men do, they think women will run away or won't be able to do what is necessary for the mission. The following is an actual quote from a Sergeant in the Army Special Forces, "Women are very protective. They nurture kids. Will a woman return fire and kill a child insurgent fighter? In Iraq, we were 10-15 kilometers ahead of the element. The female coalition soldiers would not return fire because there were kids in the crowd. It will happen in the ODA because women are protective creatures" (Vagianos). This is the most common situation people propose that women will not be able to do. This is something snipers have to do and opposers like to say if she cannot do that then she will not fit in. This is a tough situation that men even have a tough time doing but at the end of the day they are trained that if the enemy is about to blow up your soldiers, you make the call on what you have to do. With that being said, what people do not realize is that this motherly instinct is beneficial. Women will not use that instinct to protect enemy child soldiers, they will translate this motherly instinct to protect their guys, their privates, whoever they are in charge of and whoever is to their left and right, whether it be a brother or sister in arms. If those guys get hurt, this instinct would be a benefit instead of something to fear because she would do everything in her power to save that fellow soldier. 

President Obama has made many controversial changes while in office, the biggest one being passing gay marriage laws in all 50 states. A recent event that was less heard of was his push to allow females in combat roles in the military. As of December 3rd 2015, the law banishing females from combat roles was finally lifted and was set to take effect January 2nd 2016, (Tilghman). There are waivers for certain jobs in the Marine Corps that this does not lift the law from, but as far as the Army goes, if the female can meet the standards than she is welcome to have that job. He took advice from every Chief of Staff and Sergeant Major of each branch, who all advised him to keep the law banning women from combat positions, but he fought otherwise. Our generation is at an all time high for feminism, yet the military continues to be extremely male dominant. Lifting this law is a huge step in the feminist movement, allowing the first steps to equality in the biggest boys club in the world. Unfortunately, like anything else in the past, women will have to work for equality and fairness and it will be an ongoing battle for years until it becomes the norm. Fortunately, women and those who support women will work hard to adapt and overcome as always. The women who truly want those combat positions will push themselves to the max to earn them and meet the standards. Females should have the opportunity to serve in combat roles. Certainly not all will make it, they need to meet the male standards and overcome several obstacles, but the females who truly want it deserve the opportunity just like the males. Allowing women in combat was not an overnight decision, abundant amounts of deliberation went into the final choice. Even though the law allowing females in combat roles was officially passed December 2015, the conversation of this change continues among military leaders, politicians, servicemembers, and civilians. The argument is over several topics, including physical standards, how females will affect existing morale and brotherhood, SHARP, how females are viewed and valued in the unit, how the men will respond to females being in the unit, periods and pms, pregnancies, fraternization, spouses and parents response, and lastly, promotions. Many people are against women serving combat roles in the Army and have arguments regarding all of these reasons, but there are counterarguments that will show the women who truly want to serve in combat roles in the Army will find a way to prove themselves and earn the title of a soldier in a combat arms position.

Women have been serving in combat roles for years but are not getting the credit since combat roles were closed to females. Women have been serving since World War II in WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps) programs. Which programs allowed women to enlist in order to "free a man to fight." (Yeager). Ever since then, roles and positions in the military have slowly opened up more and more to females. Back in the day no one thought females would ever make it IN the military, the strong women conquered that obstacle. Next was having important jobs, and now women have earned the right to serve in combat roles that only men have served in the past several decades. Equal Rights Amendment was implemented in 1973 when our country was running out of man power so the pentagon set out aggressive goals in order to recruit women into the military and changed laws so the women could fill those positions (Yeager). The government waited so long to implement equal rights that the pentagon had to set out aggressive goals in order to recruit women into the military and changed laws so the women could fill those position. Back then they waited until they were desperate to fill those positions so the women did not have as much time to train and prepare so standards were probably lower. Right now the Army is downsizing so we can be particular, (like the marines) and hold the same standards and make sure women meet those as well. Now is the perfect time to allow women into combat jobs in the Army and to train them to standard. 

The main concern of those who are opposed to women being in combat say that women will not the physical standards necessary for combat. The way the Army assesses soldiers is through a PT (physical training) test. The PT test consists of two minutes of push-ups, however many pushups you can do in those two minutes, two minutes of situps, however many sit-ups you can do in those two minutes, and a two mile run, how fast you can finish that two miles in. Each category is scored out of 100 points, making the entire test 300 points, with the maximum amount of points the soldier can receive being 300. Everyone's goal is to score a 300 on their PT test, but a respectable score is 270 and above with 90 points in each category. In Basic Combat Training a soldier only needs to make 50 points in each category. In Advanced Individual Training (where a soldier learns their specific job) they need to score at least 60 points in each category. The requirement of at least 60 points in each category continues into the field Army after training as well. Right now there continues to be different standards for males and females when it comes to the PT test. For example, the minimum pushups females need to do to earn 60 points is 17, the minimum males need to do to earn 60 points is 42. The maximum push-ups females need to get to earn 100 points is 42 (the same as the male MINIMUM), the maximum males need to get to earn 100 points is 71. The sit-up standards are the same for male and female, the minimum being 53 and the maximum being 78. Lastly, the two mile run. The minimum passing run time for females is a 18:54 two mile, for males it is a 15:54 two mile. The maximum passing run time for females is a 15:36 two mile, (only 18 seconds slower than the males minimum) for males it is a 13:00 two mile (Smith). Besides the sit-ups, anyone can see the drastic standard differences between the male and female standards in the push-up and run categories. The problem here is simple, when it comes to combat roles, females need to meet the male standards. Another place standards cannot lower is Ranger School, which has been closed to females until this past February when two females finally made it through. A lot of opposer's of females in combat came up with several conspiracy theories saying that the women were pushed through Ranger School and, "Major Jim Hathaway, the No. 2 officer in the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade overseeing Ranger School," was fed up with it (Lamothe). He posted on facebook nine separate paragraphs addressing and shutting down each rumor. His final wise words were, "No matter what we at Ranger School say the non-believers will still be non-believers. We could have invited each of you to guest walk the entire course, and you would still not believe, we could have video recorded every patrol and you would still say that we "gave" it away. Nothing we say will change your opinion. I and the rest of our cadre are proud of the conduct of our soldiers, NCOs and officers, they took the mission assigned and performed to the Ranger Standard. Rangers Lead the Way!!!!!" (Lamothe). His final words reassure that the females who passed one of the toughest courses in the military lived up to the standards. They set a wonderful example for all women in the Army, if they can do it, other women can too if they work hard enough for it. The Army conducted many tests testing women's strength, in his youtube video, Trace Dominguez demonstrates the results of each test and makes it clear that standards will not be lowered even though science does prove women are generally weaker, that does not mean all women are weaker. His closing argument is that, "they are service members first and women second, caliber and ability are the currencies of the armed forces, as serving females are trained equally and prove that they can do anything fellow males can do too, they will earn the same benefits, to serve their country as a volunteer of America's armed forces being first." (Dominguez). This is a perfect example of how women who are serious about combat roles should be respected for their want to serve above and beyond the social norms.

Another main concern is how allowing women into divisions that have been all male for hundred of years will affect morale. The Army is all about brotherhood, Infantry, Rangers, Field Artillery, Special Forces, and Delta Force, which have all always been men. One of the manliest jobs in the world. The question is what will happen to these manly titles once women are allowed to do the same job. The good thing about the Army is what we are referred to is unisex, people in the Army are referred to as Soldiers. Compared to other branches who have Airmen, Seamen, Corpsmen, Midshipmen, etc. This is an advantage because changing a name that has been embedded in the culture and tradition for hundreds of years will cause an uproar. The Army is a big boys club, the First Sergeant will always choose a tall and fast male as a guidon bearer over any female, even if her PT score is higher than his. This is to make his company look the best as they walk around post in formations. Men in the Army are extremely close. They will be out in the field when its cold and grown men will cuddle with each other just to keep warm but will have no problem doing so because that is part of the brotherhood. They will hang out and talk about women and 'guy things' so they do not want female soldiers around to make those conversations uncomfortable. SHARP is a program in the Army that can be used to report sexual assault, rape, and sexual harassment. If a female overhears one of those 'manly' conversations and hears something she does not like, she can report it and get that male in trouble. Every male in the Army knows very well they can be SHARP'd and that is why they prefer to have just the guys around, to avoid getting in trouble. Men are also concerned that if they are deployed the women will be looked at differently. They will be looked at more as little sisters that the men need to take extra care of because they cannot handle themselves, no matter what their rank or qualifications are. Ironically Sergeants do this on a daily basis, when he takes care of his young privates he treats and protects them like his son's. Yet they complain about having to worry that the females won't be able to take care of themselves when he knows his men can, but realistically his young privates have so much left to learn. Darlene Iskra makes the point that what we are discussing should be discussed in a different manner. Instead of saying, "'Women can't do combat infantry,'" they should say, "'Military jobs should be based on performance, and those who can meet those standards should be able to participate.' This criterion eliminates any gender bias, and is not calling for the lowering of standards, which should be based on realistic performance measures" (Iskra). Allowing females into combat will be a real test on morale and character that the current men in combat units will be tested on daily. How will they respond? Will they take the extra time to teach that female everything they know, like they do for their privates? Or will they ignore her and push her down instead of building her back up? True leaders will show through because they will be the ones willing to take the time to catch her up to speed until she is completely 'one of the guys' and there is no difference between her and the soldier next to her.

The most immature concern that males have is the female's period. "Concern: Periods and PMS will get in the way. 'I cannot stand my wife for about a week out of the month,' a petty officer in the Navy wrote. 'I like that I can come to work and not have to deal with that'" (Michaels). They refer to their wives who have their periods and get angry. Well it isn't their wives who are in the military, it is strong army women who differ from civilian women. Not every single woman who gets her period PMS's and becomes moody or upset. It does not affect every single women the exact same way. Clearly military women will be professional and not allow a simple menstruation that they have been dealing with since 13 years old interfere with their career. If a female is that serious and committed to be in the combat role and doesn't want menstruation to affect her at all, she can take hormones that will stop her period all together. Ironically, in the basic combat training environment, the very first stage of joining the Army that everyone has to go through, most of the females periods stop. This is due to stress, many females from different places being confined to one small space, and syncing up throws off the hormones. This is hard to tell because there has still been very little studies done on women in the Army, (McGraw). Deployment is much more stressful than BCT so overseas a female's period may stop, but if not then she will have to deal with it for those few days every month or take the extreme option of taking hormones to stop her period completely.  Another concern is women getting pregnant and leaving the unit. Many women who are career driven and join the fields to become doctors or lawyers hold off on having children until they are career is finally set. This means spending four years going to college, three or four years at law or medical school, a year of being an intern, then spending the next three to five years climbing to a respectable level in their field. This leaves them around age 30 by the time they start having kids. Females who want to combat jobs in the Army will have the same mentality about establishing their career first, then starting a family. A woman who is serious about her Army career will want to wait until they make Staff Sergeant (E-6) on the enlisted side or Captain (O-3) on the officer side before they settle down. These are both very respectable ranks to reach. If a female enlists at age 18, she can make Staff Sergeant by age 26 if she is high speed enough. If a female commissions at the age of 22 after college, she can make captain by age 26. Both of these ages are young and allow females to establish themselves as serious ranks both enlisted or officer side before they settle down. In that time period where they are working up to those ranks with no other responsibilities than their Army combat job, they can thrive and be the best soldiers they can be while they are still young with no distractions. This will give them time to focus on reaching the standards. It is known in the Army that sometime when a deployment is announced the women in the unit will go and get pregnant because we obviously cannot send pregnant soldiers overseas. The thing is women who want combat jobs will commit to waiting to start a family so she can properly do her job, just like females who want to become doctors or lawyers. Just because women can have babies does not mean they have to, we have to keep in mind we aren't discussing the average woman here. This is not even about the average Army woman, it is about the rare women who want to serve their country in a combat role in the Army. Pregnancies overseas from one of the male counterparts is a concern and so is inappropriate relations. In the Army it is considered fraternization to have relations or a relationship with anyone in your chain of command, an officer with enlisted, or a higher enlisted with a lower enlisted. Therefore overseas it is fraternization to have relations with anyone in your unit. There are many reasons for this, it is deployment, not summer camp, having a relationship going on within the unit will cause distractions for the two participating members and for everyone around them. Also what happens if they break up, how will that affect the morale and everyone around them? Lastly, it can cause problems in the work environment if they cannot keep it professional. For example, Specialist (E-4, lower enlisted) Brittany Smith is having relations with Sergeant (E-5, higher enlisted) David Spear, and they are in the same platoon. One day the platoon goes out on mission for a foot patrol. An IED goes off and direct fire starts coming their way, Private James was hit by the IED and Sergeant Spear, who is in the rear of the formation, far away from the IED blast falls down for an unknown reason. Specialist Smith immediately runs over to help Sergeant Spear because that is who she is having relations with, when it turns out he only tripped and Private James is bleeding out from a leg amputation. Because of her relationship it clouded her judgement and she developed tunnel vision, because of that Private James died. This is the biggest reason relationships want to be prevented. Like I've said, a woman who is that dedicated and serious about her job will not throw it all away for a "battle boo" as we like to call them. She will remain professional with her guys at all times and never let any of them cross that line. This will be tough, being a female in an all male environment is like being a piece of meat in a dog store, just like everything else in the struggle to have equality she will need to stand up for herself and fight for it. Once they see no one is getting in her pants eventually they will stop and begin to respect her as one of the guys. 

Other people that are expressing their opinions on females being in combat in the Army to take into consideration are the spouses, specifically Army wives. They are concerned that with a woman around on deployment that their husbands will cheat on them. First of all, if they are concerned about that then that said marriage has bigger issues, this should not be a concern at all, let alone a top concern. A top concern should always be the safety of their husband. If their husband is supposed to be this big and strong male, he should be able to control himself and his urges around his fellow female soldiers.

Another group of people concerned with females entering combat roles are parents. These days many people are for the feminist movement and equality, but protective parents will throw those values out the window anytime they become uncertain about the safety of their children. Any parent will be terrified when their child tells them they want to join the Army, some support it but many parents do not. Parents who support their children's decision to join the Army will never realize how important them being there along the journey is, especially for females since that is more rare. It will take an extremely unique set of parents to support their daughter joining a combat role in the Army. They can't be fully old-school because no parent back in the day in the US would allow their daughter to join the Army, let alone obtain a combat position. They cannot be modern either because today's generation of parents expect the world to be handed to their children without them having to work for it. They need to support their daughter who wants to be a military person and encourage them to work to the male standards. As many people want feminism they are scared for their kids as well. Kids can sign at age 17, but with a parent signature of approval. That is the age when teenagers are trying to decide the track of their lives to start. This is the time when all their peers are applying to school or just hearing back from which colleges they did or didn't get into. Maybe the kid didn't make good enough grades, or they didn't get into school, or they need help paying for school, or they've just always wanted to join the military. Whatever the reason is, They will need to be making that choice around 17 or 18 if they want to do something with their lives right out of highschool. So at 17  they need their parents position, and a lot of times parents will say no, they become frantic and start looking for other options because the race to 18 seems so far away, and give up on the military plan. Another problem is that we live in a generation where we don't move out right at age 18 like they did back in the day, so the issue that possible soldiers run into is that even though they are 18, their parents still have control over what they can and can't do because they live under their roof. Kids 18 and above can sign for themselves but they don't want to disrespect their parents wishes and come home one day and not be welcomed or allowed back under the family roof. This discourages many potential recruits, even more for females, and with this trend it will discourage almost all females who want to join combat jobs in the army.  

The way promotions work in the Army is based off of Time in Service, Time in Grade, points, slots, and boards. Time in Service is how long that soldier has been in the Army. Time in grade is how long that soldier has been at their current rank. Soldiers get points from a variety of things, education, awards, and deployments are the big ones. Slots determine how many people in the entire Army can be promoted for the entire fiscal year. Lastly, in order to promote a soldier must go to a promotion board where they are expected to be in the dress blue uniform and answer several Army related questions that will prove they are ready for the increase in rank and how they will handle the upgrade in leadership responsibility. Almost all promotion boards take into consideration combat deployments, points. The complaint is that women don't have the opportunity to go on a combat deployment so they're asking one of two things. The first request and less popular request is to go on combat deployments so they can get promoted. The second request is more popular and that is for combat deployment points to be taken out of the equation all together to make everything fair. This should definitely not be eliminated but it should vary based on what field they are in. For combat jobs it needs to stay there, soldiers who are deploying want to be led by someone with combat experience, not someone without it. If they are trying to go on a combat deployment, anyone, not just women in this case, but the main complaints are from females themselves, to get promoted, that is a problem that needs to be stopped right there. They should want to go on a combat deployment bc it is a job that they are willing to do and willing to die for their nation and to serve their country. That is why we join the Army, it is always about what can you do for the Army, never what can the army do for you. From day one of training the Drill Sergeants will tell you that the easiest way to remember which side the nape tapes on your uniform go on is by putting U.S. Army over your heart. The U.S. Army goes on the left and the soldier's last name goes on the right. The way to remember that Army goes on the left is because the Army is the most important thing in your heart once you raise your right hand and swear in to serve our great nation. 

Now that physical standards, how females will affect existing morale and brotherhood, SHARP, how females are viewed and valued in the unit, how the men will respond to females being in the unit, periods and pms, pregnancies, fraternization, spouses and parents response, and promotion problems have been addressed U.S. civilians and servicemembers can make an educated decision if they think women should be in combat roles in the Army. Many people will still be against women serving combat roles in the Army and have arguments regarding all of these reasons, but all it takes is one to start. Women are already on a good start after the two females passed Ranger School and the fact the law has already passed through congress and was effective back in January of this year. The women who truly want to serve in combat roles in the Army will find a way to prove themselves and earn the title of a soldier in a combat arms position.

