Get Our Women Off the Battlefield

Commentary by JR Moore

We are presently involved in Iraq. Regardless of whether you’re for or against this war it has highlighted an issue of both immediate and long term significance. An issue that I hope has shocked the American people back to reality. That issue is women in combat and the fact that the women of our armed services do not belong on the battlefield!

The stark reality of this issue was highlighted when Army Spc. Shoshawna Johnson, a 30-year-old single mother with the 507th Maintenance Company, showed up on televisions across the globe as a prisoner of war (POW). Johnson was visibly frightened as she sat on a sofa, wringing her hands in her lap, her eyes darting between the camera lens and someone off camera to her right. Her boots were missing and her ankle was bandaged. Sadly, her family believed she was a cook, far from the line of fire and were shocked when she appeared on TV as a POW. Praise Jesus, Johnson was rescued.

Prior to Johnson's rescue, Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old young lady from West Virginia, who was also with the 507th Maintenance Company, had been rescued by a Special Forces team. Private Lynch, a supply clerk, had been captured by the Iraqis on March 23rd.

Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa from Arizona, a 23-year-old mother of a 4-year-old little boy and a 3-year-old little girl, who was with Private Lynch's unit, was not as fortunate. Her body was found during Private Lynch's rescue along with the bodies of several other members of her unit.

How on earth did we get to the place where we are sending young women into combat?

Feminists Get Their Way

Shortly after the transition from a military with conscription to an "all volunteer" force, we saw efforts to integrate women into all branches of military service. This process began in the mid-1970's. The United States now has women serving in all branches in every job imaginable. This article will address two parts of this issue: The first will be the physical and practical aspects of having women integrated into combat forces. The second will be the moral and societal aspects of the integration of women in combat positions.

The drive to expand women’s roles in our military and eventually into combat was fueled by Congress and feminists. Extreme feminists, like former congresswoman Pat Schroeder (Democrat, Colorado), acting on behalf of a small but very well-organized and vocal constituency, began pushing for the full integration of women into the military. Feminists took the view that women were being discriminated against for advancement in the armed services because they were not allowed in combat. A committee was formed to address this issue known as the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. That committee, now virtually out of business since President Bush took office, was a civilian advisory board to the Department of Defense whose original mandate was to help make military service safer and more comfortable for women. However, it became an advocacy group to place women into every part of every service.

This three decade process has transcended both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations and Congresses. There is no shortage of blame to go around. In the name of "Fairness" and "Equality", slowly but surely, we have attempted to do what no military has ever successfully done -- to integrate women into the combat forces of our military.

Today, we are recruiting, training, equipping and sending teenage girls into combat while keeping strong young men at home.

The Fantasy

The line which the American people were fed was that "American women are different." American women can do what no women in any culture in any age have done, namely be fully and completely integrated into every part of a nation’s military. American women can and should perform at an equal level to men in combat."

What we (as a culture and a society) over the past 30 years have been telling our young women is that "they can do anything a man can do." Young women have been told that "there is absolutely no difference in their ability and a man’s ability to perform any job in any branch of service."

The Reality

Very few of our young women have either an understanding of the reality of combat, or of their chances of being ordered to serve in a combat role. This leaves them without an intellectual basis to come to an informed decision prior to enlistment. They also lack the physical strength and stamina to have any hope of surviving the combat experience. This situation endangers not only their own lives, but also the lives of the young men with whom they will serve, and the mission that they must accomplish. Many adult women are no larger than a healthy boy of twelve (5' 2" 105 lbs.). Almost no woman, regardless of her athletic ability, can compete one-on-one with a man in combat.

The public perception is that only those few women who can pass strict physical standards are allowed in the military. Reality is that all physical standards have either been reduced or eliminated to accommodate the congressional mandates. After the first field-grade military officer spoke out against women in the military saw his career come to an early end, the rest of the officer corps quickly learned that speaking out would terminate their careers. The list of accommodations and special treatment women receive is extensive.

False rationalizations, the utter disregard for the simple biological and physiological differences between men and women, and the brushing aside of 5,000 plus years of military history have been combined to place our young men and women in harm's way. They have been combined to reduce the effectiveness, esprit des corps and morale of our military units.

Reality is the fact that only medical personnel are noncombatants and don't bear arms, though they are still targets for the enemy. Reality is the fact that in every major war over the past 100 years in which the U.S. has been involved (excluding Desert Storm) has had, at some point, a major reversal on the battlefield. By "reversal" I mean that every soldier -- from cooks to clerks -- have had to pick-up a rifle and go into combat.

The Morality of Women in Combat

Aside from the obvious problems and temptations that arise by having men and women living together and fighting together (which have been highlighted by a number of military scandals covered by the media), even a cursory reading of the Scriptures or any number of historical texts will quickly reveal that even the most barbaric, cruel and primitive armies ever to march on the face of the earth have protected their women from the horrors of combat. As a combat veteran of Vietnam, I can assure you that combat today is no less horrific than it was in the days of Attila the Hun.

What we are doing by sending our young women into combat is as wrong as wrong can be. Further, you should be advised that the norms described in the Bible for behavior in war are still just as intact and alive for our enemies in the Middle-East as they were 2,000 years ago. For example: Deuteronomy 20:14 clearly states that women are legitimate plunder for an army. 1 Samuel 30:2-3 mentions women being taken captive by David. Second Kings 8:12 mentions pregnant women being ripped open when captured in war. Islamic men consider any woman captured on the battlefield, as legitimate booty, for them to do with as they please.

Conclusion

Recently a friend, whom I believe would identify himself as a liberal, asked me if I considered the lives of our young women as being more valuable than the lives of our young men. My response? "Absolutely not!" The question misses the entire argument I am making. The point to be made is that we are lying to our young women, our service members and ourselves to create special standards, eliminate or change any physical requirements, change or eliminate training standards to continue our present politically correct, social experiment of integration of women into the military.

If we don’t stop and reverse this failed social experiment now, or at least start the process of stopping it, there will be even more serious consequences than we have already seen. We will see an increase in the needless suffering, torture, rape and death of teenage American women in warfare. We will see an untold number of young men dying in combat because of the reduced combat effectiveness of their units due to the presence of women. We will see our young men dying needlessly who will be taking needless risks to protect young women in their outfits. We may even see military objectives or a unit’s overall combat effectiveness compromised because of the presence of women on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, as you read this, we have young women in combat in Iraq who will remain in combat for the duration of this war. You and I cannot change this. We can and should however work diligently to terminate this failed social experiment at the cessation of hostilities.

Please, regardless of your views on the war in Iraq, pray for the protection of our brave men and women in uniform. Pray for our leaders to lead with wisdom and pray to end this insanity of putting our young women in harm’s way.

John " J.R." Moore, a Vietnam combat veteran, served as an intelligence analyst with the United States Army Green Berets 6th Special Forces Airborne Group and also conducted classified studies of the Middle-East. A private detective and security consultant since 1973, he has specialized in homicide investigations and is the author of "Feel Safe Anywhere, You Can Be Your own Bodyguard." Visit his website at: www.thelibertyman.com.