Women in combat roles

[Dallas]

Physicality can be misleading though.

I come from a long line of service people, both parents were coppers, brother in army, grandparents in army and unles on both sides in police and navy

I was asked why I didnt follow

Because I am a princess thats why not, my dad was beaten to a pulp in blackpool, paid for our holidays though

I know some wippersnappers would go head on into any trouble. Its all mental.

[Dallas]

And yes they do poop in bags while they're mate holds it. They then have to carry it around with them

keeps your hands warm

[MyUserName]

So gays should not be allowed in the military?

Yeah, fair enough you have me there. I am aware that those arguments apply to homosexuals and I have no issue with them being in combat units. I am not sure why, to be honest.

Instinct (or possibly subconscious biggotry but I hope not ) tells me that it would be more of an issue with male to female relationships than male to male as there will be fewer people and relationships involved. All the single guys in a unit will be trying to nail the girls there and there will be a competition to see who can get them all etc (this already happens in the military as well as civilian groups). This will be less of a factor will homosexual relationships as the available pool is different and there seems (at least between the gay friends that I have) is less of a 'predator prey' aspect to the relationship. I might be wrong, I am not an expert in this.

[Kelstar]

Surely the psychological effects on the nation of a woman front line soldier being captured is worse than a man as they will be raped ( I know the RAF pilots shot down in the first Iraq war were nearly raped)

Also if you ever end up with slaughter on the scale of WW1 you need your baby producing units well away from the front line to re-populate the country

Pre deployment training includes preparation for capture and what to expect... rape is one of the topics, men are commonly raped. Man, woman, rape is rape.... its a common form of torture in war. Not nice, but true....

[BrilloPad]

A woman soldier gets captured and as a POW is raped.

Eventually she is freed and a couple of months later her friend asks her if she is still upset about what happened.

"Of course I am! He doesn't call, doesn't write....."

[BrilloPad]

Automatically (some) men would jump to protect - as an instinct, distracting from the commands and routines they are trained to perform when under fire. Its a distraction, and a very hard instinctive response to retrain/switch off. They do drills and training exercises along side women, but still in the situation when deployed something else kicks in....

Then they need more training! In the falklands some Argies were defending a ridge when some Gurkhas ran up towards them. A Gurkha trod on a mine - his leg was blown away and everyone ignored him. At that point the Argies surrendered.

[Troll]

Pre deployment training includes preparation for capture and what to expect... rape is one of the topics, men are commonly raped. Man, woman, rape is rape.... its a common form of torture in war. Not nice, but true....

That's fine at a personal level - however the behaviour of the captured sailors from HMS Cornwall in 2007(and apologies for switching from land to sea forces) suggests our nations forces lack any fortitude in captivity, what counts these days is support of the nation for continuing any hostilities rather than actual military effectiveness, Daily Mail headlines of woman combatants being raped by Johnny Foreigner will soon destroy that support

[Kelstar]

Then they need more training!.

My personal view is it isn't as simple as "do more training"

They train with women... they go on exercise with women. I can only speak from the feedback my ex gave me. On training exercises wouldn't blink twice. Under fire, different story.

Its hard not to become an armchair warrior on this topic, I fully support equality and the rights of women to serve in combat roles if they wish... however I think the bigger picture is more complex.

And, give the cuts to the MOD budgets, I suspect training may become more "streamlined". But thats just a guess....

[The Spartan]

Pre deployment training includes preparation for capture and what to expect... rape is one of the topics, men are commonly raped. Man, woman, rape is rape.... its a common form of torture in war. Not nice, but true....

Training is just that though training and when you face people who can torture without conscience or fear of reprisal then you're totally fooked, so what if some squaddie urinated over a few POW's the fact of the matter is given the reverse he would no doubt tortured to death.

During the conflict in the Balkans male soldiers were raped and consequently contracted HIV from it, not sure if this received any public attention though.

[doodab]

A lot of this seems to be predicated on the idea that the point of the army is to let everyone who wants a go have a go. Where you are putting peoples lives at risk the focus has to be absolutely 100% on having the most effective combat force you can. Anything that diminishes that has to be a no no.