Female Front

FACED by persistent recruiting shortfalls, the Australian Defence Force has decided to seek salvation from its personnel woes by assigning female soldiers to front-line combat zones.But the cure of placing women at the sharp end of war will be far worse than the disease of an under-strength cavalry regiment.
For the first time, Australian Army servicewomen will be posted to infantry battalions, albeit in logistical support roles. But the asymmetrical nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan often places cooks and mechanics in direct contact with the enemy. That these female personnel will be formally classified as technical specialists offers cold comfort to those who believe that women belong nowhere near the crucible of combat.
The battlefield is an unforgiving environment where social niceties and political correctness are irrelevant. Lugging 50kg of the impedimenta of war, the modern fighting soldier is expected to march numerous kilometres, to run up and down hills, to crawl and to fight.
The 2001 British Army's combat effectiveness study conclusively demonstrated that almost no women are capable of meeting the gruelling demands of ground warfare. But the problems caused by the gender integration of front-line units extend far beyond the issue of comparative female physical frailty.

The posting of women to combat units would disrupt the small-group dynamic that coalesces rifle companies into effective weapons of war. It turned out that male Israeli soldiers spent their time in combat protecting their female colleagues rather than achieving their mission objectives. And while the Soviets experimented with female snipers during the early stages of World War II, by 1944 Russian fighting units were all male and women were relegated to the rear.
Modern society has created an entire set of institutions that are predicated on the assumption that women require special protections from violence and oppression. But if women need an extraordinary legal regime to cope with unwanted sexual advances in the civilian workplace, how will they endure the unbridled savagery of hand-to-hand combat?
There will be no equal opportunity commission on the battlefield. Appeals to the principles of fairness and equity will fall on deaf ears of an al-Qa'ida jihadist intent on burying his bayonet in the chest of a female Australian signaller.
The waters are further muddied by the simple issue of sexual desire. The lifestyle of a ground combat unit in the field is extremely tough and rudimentary. If men and women in their physical prime are placed in such conditions for lengthy periods, the development of romantic liaisons within the ranks is inevitable.
An epidemic of mid-tour of duty pregnancies has wrought havoc on US Army personnel policies in Iraq because expectant mothers are routinely transferred out of combat zones. Moreover, the passion of romantic love, with its instinctive tendencies towards jealousy, protectiveness and favouritism, is antithetical to the unit bonding that is a key foundation of combat effectiveness.
Rampant sexual promiscuity among rear-echelon US personnel at Abu Ghraib prison contributed to the complete collapse of military discipline that made prisoner abuse possible. And the introduction of lust to the tightly knit family of a fighting unit will wreak even greater havoc on morale and unit cohesion.
The unavoidable carnal tensions that will arise from the posting of women to front-line units will corrode the infantry's ability to fulfil its primary function: defeating the enemy. Even if officers and non-commissioned officers can resist personal temptation, they will spend inordinate amounts of time in the field keeping their troops out of each other's sleeping bags. And these problems of sexual fraternisation will occur even if only those few female soldiers who can cope with the physical demands of battle are posted to front-line units.
The policy of posting female personnel to combat arms units is the first step down the road to the battlefield mediocrity of a softer and gentler Australian Army. We must always remember that the cost of ill-advised military policies is measured not merely in dollars but in flag-draped caskets as well.
till next time, Michelle.