Pentagon allowed women to fight

The head of the Pentagon Leon Panetta announced the cancellation of the ban on the participation of women in hostilities, including the service in the elite parts of special forces, reports AFP . With such a statement, he made on Wednesday, January 23, the official order of the US military department will soon be released.

In November 2012, four women officers filed a lawsuit demanding that the Pentagon rules recognize as unconstitutional, which forbid women to take part in hostilities. In the lawsuit, they indicated that these requirements infringe on the rights of women and belittle their merits to the state.

Women take part in the wars that the USA wage. However, they are forbidden to be part of the formations that are busy directly on the front line, and serve in infantry, armored, artillery, and engineering units below the level of brigades. This seriously limits the promotion due to the lack of combat experience. The corresponding ban was introduced since 1994.

In February 2012, the Panetta ordered for women to allocate 14 thousand vacancies in the Ground Forces and the Marine Corps, which is the main expeditionary emergence of US troops. Women were allowed to serve in units that are based with the combat and lifted the ban on service in combat formations of the level of battalions. The abolition of the ban will allow women not only to take part in hostilities, but also to receive promotion and command posts.

Leon Panetta to ask the Head of the United States to submit by May 15 plans for enrolling women in any military units. The cancellation of the ban will open 230 thousand posts and specialties. Two years later, the commanders will send recommendations to the Pentagon regarding the exceptions of the new rule.

Opponents of the participation of women in the fighting claim that men are much stronger and more resilient, so if women want to fight, then they should take the same exams as men. In 2012, two women tried to go through the entire training course in the US naval infantrymen, but could not stand it.

According to 2013, women make up 14% of the US Army (200 thousand out of 1.4 million). Of these, only 37 thousand officers are officers. During combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, 152 women were killed.

At the end of December 2012, it became known that the State Duma was preparing a bill on the draft of women for military service for a period of one year due to a lack of soldiers.