Pentagon to up roles of military women; UVa group unimpressed

The Pentagon unveiled plans Thursday to allow women to serve in thousands of military jobs closer to the front lines, reflecting the realities of the last decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense officials say the new rules will still mean that woman are barred from serving as infantry, armor and special operations forces — considered the most dangerous combat jobs. But the changes will open the door for more opportunities and promotions for women by allowing them to perform jobs they are already performing, but in battalions, which are closer to the fighting and once considered too dangerous for women.

A group from the University of Virginia School of Law engaged in the Molly Pitcher Project, an effort to lift the ban on women in combat, said the Pentagon’s new measure does not go far enough.

“While any expansion of the opportunities available to servicewomen is welcome, we recognize this change for what it is — an attempt to stave off criticism with a token gesture of equality,” said Kyle Mallinak, a second year law student.

Anne Coughlin, a professor, agreed.

“Under the new policy, many military occupations and assignments will continue to remain off limits to women merely because they are women,” she said. “Rather than testing women to determine if they are capable of filling these important positions, the Pentagon simply chooses to exclude them all.”

Such discrimination is unconstitutional, Coughlin said.

“As far as we can tell, the Pentagon also will continue to defend this exclusion on the basis of outdated stereotypes about women's capacities and character,” she said. “Our goal is to open the profession of combat arms to women on an equal basis to men, and we are continuing to work on litigation to achieve that objective.”

A 1994 combat exclusion policy bans women from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level. A brigade is roughly 3,500 troops split into several battalions of about 800 soldiers each. Historically, brigades were based farther from the front lines and often include top command and support staff, while the battalions are usually in closer contact with the enemy.

In the past decade, the necessities of war propelled women into jobs such as medics, military police and intelligence officers, and they were sometimes attached — but not formally assigned — to battalions. So while a woman couldn’t be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion going out on patrol, she could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured.

The officials said the new rules will formally allow women to work in those jobs at the battalion level.

“We believe that it’s very important to explore ways to offer more opportunities to women in the military,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said Thursday. “This review has been thorough and extensive,” with input from all branches of the military.

Little said that even after the new policy takes effect, the Pentagon will continue to search for ways to open up additional positions to women in the military.

The latest changes, which open up as many as 14,000 additional jobs for women, would have the greatest effect on the Army and Marine Corps. Those two services ban women from more jobs than the Navy and Air Force do, largely because of the infantry positions.