Record Number of Injuries, Fatalities
According to U.S. military records, 33 female soldiers–three in Afghanistan and 30 in Iraq–have been killed since operations started in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
In addition, 240 women have sustained combat-related wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan. Left with permanent injuries that have sometimes required amputation, most of these women–like those killed–were struck by bombs that hit transport units or camps with no warning.
"We don’t track the number of women soldiers wounded by U.S. forces in friendly fire," said Army spokesperson Lt. Colonel Bryan Hilferty. "But these accidents don’t happen often."
The death and injury toll for female soldiers in the current conflicts shatters previous records for women serving in positions that are also shared by men. In the Gulf War–the first major conflict where women soldiers served alongside male soldiers–216,000 women were enlisted and 16 were killed. In Iraq and Afghanistan, only 17,000 female soldiers are enlisted. But their deaths account for 33 of the 1,000 estimated fatalities among servicewomen in U.S. history. To date, nearly all of these fatalities have been among female nurses and support staff.
"Having this many female casualties in uniform is certainly new," said Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst for The Brookings Institution in Washington. "It has made this policy debate more visible and more visceral."
Women More Active in Military
Historians estimate that only 20,000 American women have fought in battle since Margaret Corbin hoisted her petticoats and took charge of a canon after her husband fell in the Revolutionary War.
Since the creation of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901, women have been employed directly by the military. But until recent decades, most have served as nurses and support staff. That started to change in the Korean War during the early 1950s, when the military began accepting women for active duty.
In 1992 the Air Force began allowing female pilots to fly in some combat missions. In 1993 the Navy started allowing women to serve on combat ships. In 1994 the Army dropped a rule prohibiting women from filling positions with a "substantial risk of capture." These changes opened up 90 percent of military jobs to women for the first time.
"From this point onward, women were not only trained to use arms, but could also fire them on the job," said retired Air Force Capt. Barbara Wilson, founder of Military Women Veterans in St. Augustine, Fla.
Today, female soldiers take infantry training alongside their male companions, learning how to fire assault weapons and move under direct and indirect fire. Accounting for 15 percent of all service people and 10 percent of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, women work as engineers, truck drivers, pilots and weapons experts.
Two prohibitions hold female troops back from full parity. They are barred from positions that involve direct combat (such as serving on submarines, in the Special Forces and in infantry, armor and artillery positions). They are also barred from "collocated units" that support combat troops. A woman can serve as a medic, for instance, but not as a medic in a unit that "collocates" or supports a unit on the front line.
Sounds to me like they pay just as important of a role over there and deserve recognition by the public…… Some of them too have paid the ultimate sacrifice in combat….. THANK YOU WOMEN IN THE ARMED SERVICES!!!
But they point out men much more often in everything and at times forget bout the women, not exactly right…..
I appreciate THESE women in the military — THEY’RE SMOKIN HOT (even if they are jew).
Recent Comments