Not just for men anymore

Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

Military policy, if strictly enforced, prevents women from being assigned to units that have a high probability of engaging in combat. Whenever the question “Should the policy be changed?” has been asked, the debate has been awkward, at least for those passionate about keeping the status quo.

There has never been any proven reason why women shouldn’t be allowed to join infantry, artillery and other units that could see combat. So the arguments against changing the policy, which flared up again at the beginning of the Iraq war, were mostly instinctive and went like this: They’re not strong enough, they’re too emotional, their presence would destroy discipline, war is a man’s job ...

These arguments, obviously, are not fair to women who want the whole range of military service open to them.

The Web site vietnamwomens

memorial.org is a testament to the role women played during the Vietnam War. They proved themselves in all of the dozens of capacities they served in South Vietnam, whose entirety was a war zone, but the military remained uncomfortable with even broaching the subject of women officially being assigned combat roles.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have saved the military from having to again openly contend with the issue. Without anyone in the Pentagon or White House making a ruling, and without their being the center of a national debate, women have just gone ahead and assumed so many combat roles that their service as gunners, checkpoint guards, patrol leaders and troop commanders has changed military culture on its own.

In a story from Iraq on Monday headlined “Living and fighting alongside men, and fitting in,” The New York Times quoted Brig. Gen. Heidi V. Brown. “There was a lot of debate over where women should be,” Brown said. “Here we are six years later, and you don’t hear about it. You shouldn’t hear about it.”

Because of what has happened of its own volition in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military’s artificial policy of banning women from combat should be considered superseded.