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Jewish World Review April 18, 2005 / 9 Nisan, 5765 G.I. Jane is here to stay, and that's mostly a good thing By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
On the outskirts of Salman Pak a little southeast of Baghdad March 21st, a
convoy of 30 tractor-trailers driven by third country nationals was attacked
by a force of 40-50 insurgents armed with automatic weapons and
rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
The convoy was escorted by three humvees. But one was in the kill zone, and
the three soldiers in it were wounded immediately. The soldiers in the
other vehicles were pinned down by heavy fire. Insurgents with handcuffs
moved toward the wounded soldiers, intending to take them prisoner.
But a squad of 10 MPs in three humvees had been shadowing the convoy, and
arrived in the nick of time. The MPs drove across the kill zone, shielding
the convoy from enemy fire, turned up an access road at a right angle to the
main road, and stopped next to a field across which a squad of insurgents
was advancing. In front of them was a line of seven sedans with doors and
trunks open, the insurgents' getaway cars.
The second vehicle in the squad was hit immediately by an RPG which knocked
the gunner unconscious. All three soldiers in the third humvee were wounded
by machine gun fire.
The driver of the middle vehicle sprinted to the third to take up the
machine gun from the fallen gunner there. The squad leader, in the second
vehicle, revived the dazed gunner and then, with the team sergeant from the
first humvee, moved into a ditch in which many of the insurgents were
hiding. The two sergeants fought their way up the ditch, throwing grenades
and firing their carbines.
The two sergeants cleared the ditch. The team sergeant had five confirmed
kills, the squad leader two. The gunners on the three vehicles also were
effective. The 10 MPs together killed 26 guerrillas, and captured another in
what was the biggest battle in Iraq since the assault on Fallujah the
preceding November.
The first thing to note is the MPs were from the 617th MP company of the
Kentucky Army National Guard. Our "weekend warriors" fight just as well as
our regulars, who fight very well indeed.
The second thing to note is that the team sergeant who took the lead in
clearing the ditch was Sgt Leigh Ann Hester, 23, who sells shoes at a store
in Nashville in civilian life.
Nearly as courageous as Sgt. Hester was Specialist Ashley Pullen, who
treated the wounded under fire.
Sgt Hester and Sp Pullen pretty much close for me the debate over women in
combat. No, I'm not in favor of lifting the restrictions in the Army and
Marine Corps which keep women out of infantry, armor and Special Forces
units. The combat arms exclusion exists for sound reasons which ought not
to be ignored to please a few feminists who would never dream of enlisting
themselves. But anyone who says women can't pull their load on the
battlefield should take it up with Sgt Hester. But not when she's mad.
Neither the Army nor most women who serve in it have any desire to lift
those restrictions, but Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military
Readiness, is in high dudgeon over the chief of staff's plan to collocate
support units in which women do serve with infantry and armor battalions.
I think her objections are foolish. In this war, women already are in
combat. Insurgents in Iraq are far more likely to attack support units, in
which women serve, than the combat units in which they do not. The
reorganization that Gen. Peter Schoomaker has proposed makes enormous
tactical sense, and ought not to be sidetracked because women might serve in
forward support companies.
We cannot do without women in the military. The Army has missed its
recruiting goals for two consecutive months, and is likely to fall short
again this month. There'd be no hope of meeting goals without female
recruits. And women soldiers are a big reason why soldiers have higher IQs
and more education than the youth population as a whole.
The Army does some silly things with its women. Coed basic training is a
foolishness imposed during the Clinton administration which lowers the
readiness of both male and female soldiers. The Army would be wise to
follow the lead of the Marine Corps, which segregates the sexes during boot
camp. But G.I. Jane is here to stay, and that's mostly a good thing.
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© 2005, Jack Kelly |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
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