It's My Country Too

by Jerri Bell, Tracy Crow

  Some servicewomen disagreed. Two groups of military women filed lawsuits in federal court alleging that they had been denied ground combat assignments and therefore equal access to promotion opportunities because of their gender. The possibility that the lawsuits would be adjudicated in favor of the plaintiffs increased pressure on the DoD to rescind ground combat exclusion regulations before the courts forced them to do so.

  On January 24, 2013, outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey rescinded the 1994 DoD assignment policy with the caveat that the services would establish “validated, gender-neutral occupational standards” and would notify Congress of changes as required. They directed that integration of women be completed no later than January 1, 2016. They also established standards for implementation. The first priority would be to preserve unit readiness, cohesion, and morale. The second would be to ensure equal opportunity for women to succeed with viable career paths. The third was to retain public trust by promoting policies to ensure the quality of the military and its personnel. Services finding that assignment of women conflicted with these principles could request specific exceptions to the assignment of women. These changes opened nearly 37,000 more positions to women.

  Only the Marine Corps requested an exception. In September 2015, the Marine Corps released an executive summary of the results of the 2014–15 Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force study. It claimed that women participants sustained significantly higher injury rates than men, were less accurate with infantry weapons, and had more difficulty moving “wounded” troops off the battlefield. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus rejected the report as flawed from the outset, writing in a New York Times op-ed that the study failed to evaluate the performance of individual women Marines and used only irrelevant performance averages. Others questioned the screening process for the women who participated, and noted that the study did not establish occupation-relevant standards for combat positions prior to evaluating women’s performance in them. Not mentioned in the executive summary was the study’s finding that “gender integration, in and of itself, will not have a significant impact on unit morale.” Mabus directed the Marines to integrate combat units. To date, more than two hundred enlisted women have graduated from the Infantry Training Battalion; none of the twenty-nine women who attempted the Infantry Officer Course have yet succeeded.

  Lifting the restrictions remains controversial. Proponents argue that “attaching” but not “assigning” women to combat units—as was the case with Female Engagement Teams and Cultural Support Teams—allows the military to use servicewomen in combat without having to recognize their service. They point out that women attached to combat units do not get the same level of combat training as the men they serve alongside, and as a result are at increased safety risk when in the field. They suggest that gender-based assignment restrictions create a divisive culture in which women are seen as second-class servicemembers—an attitude that may increase the incidence of sexual assault and rape. They insist that no one is advocating for lowering standards for the armed forces’ most physically demanding jobs, only that the standards be based on individual performance rather than gender. Finally, they argue that women veterans who served in combat are frequently perceived not to have been in combat; therefore, they have more difficulty producing documentation for combat-connected medical conditions that would entitle them to additional benefits and the level of post-service health care automatically given to men who served in combat.

  Opponents continue to express concern over lowering of physical standards, the potential impact of pregnancy on deployment, and the impact of integrating women on unit cohesion and morale. They continue to insist that integration is a liberal feminist social experiment that will degrade military readiness. And they suggest that greater exposure of women to men in combat units increases the potential for sexual assault and rape.

  In an effort to derail the integration effort, in 2016 Iraq War veteran Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California) introduced legislation requiring women to register with the Selective Service. The move backfired. The American public raised no significant outcry of protest; several House Republicans supported the bill, which passed the House Armed Services Committee without Hunter’s support. The measure remains undecided at this time. If passed, it is unlikely to reverse the course of women’s full integration into direct combat units.

  Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, both West Point alumni, became the first women to graduate from the Army’s elite Ranger School on August 21, 2015. Less than a month later, Congressman Steve Russell (R-Oklahoma)—a former Ranger-qualified infantry officer—wrote to Secretary of the Army John McHugh:

  “In order to ensure that the Army retrains its ability to defend the nation, we must ensure that our readiness is not sacrificed. This letter serves to request the following information and documents . . . regarding the female graduates and those female candidates that entered Ranger School beginning 1 May 2015.” For every phase of training including “recycle” phases (in which Ranger candidates must repeat part of the course due to a prior failure), Representative Russell requested the women’s patrol grade sheets with instructors’ comments; spot reports; critical test evaluation sheets; phase evaluation reports; peer evaluation reports; sick call reports and evaluations “to indicate injury without compromising confidentiality of medical records”; a complete breakdown of each female candidate’s recycle history; and a complete pre-training history of each female candidate.

  A spokesman for Russell told the Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer that the congressman had received “information from some people with the Ranger school who alleged [the women candidates] were not held to the same standards. We asked for the records to make sure that all of the people who passed the course deserved to pass it.” In his letter, Russell did not request the records of the men.

  A group of women alumni of West Point, led by Class of 1980 graduate Sue Fulton, responded with a request under the Freedom of Information Act for the Ranger School records of Representative Russell. Fulton wrote, “If Cong[ressman] Russell claims that Rangers lie, and can be influenced to ignore standards, perhaps he experienced that when he went through Ranger School. We would like to see definitive proof that he is entitled to his [Ranger] tab.” She tweeted: “Let’s see YOUR #RangerSchool records, Congressman.”

  On April 28, 2016, Ranger School graduate Capt. Kristen Griest became the first woman assigned to a job in the infantry.

  Conclusion

  When history is written by and for elites—nearly all men, in the case of military history—much is lost. The picture is incomplete. The rest of the story can be found in the voices of the lower ranks and in those of the women who served briefly, moved on, and reintegrated; those whose service was denigrated, overlooked, or forgotten. As women join the military elite—as they make rank, pursue careers, and continue into congressional, cabinet, and senior policymaking jobs—they will do well to acknowledge and remember the contributions of earlier generations of American women, whose struggle and sacrifice earned them the opportunities they now enjoy.

  From the earliest days of nationhood, America’s fighting women have been telling their stories and writing them down for posterity. It is past time for America to listen. From the earliest days of American independence, women have wanted to contribute to the common defense to the fullest extent of their abilities. They have defied social conventions and found ways to join the armed forces even when women’s service was prohibited by law and custom. They have served despite criticism from society and their families, and despite disdain, harassment, and outright abuse from many of the men with whom they served. They have served voluntarily—without equal pay, equal rank, equal benefits, equal rights and protection under the law, equal opportunity to contribute and to advance in rank, and equal recognition of their service. They have been wounded and have died in defense of the Constitution.

  Women who wan
ted to serve in the armed forces have needed not just to perform their duties but to excel in them, simply to be allowed to serve alongside men. They have taken great pride in their service and their contributions, though they often dismiss them as insignificant. They have struggled to balance military duties and family life, often advocating for family policy changes that benefited men as well as themselves. They have shared with men the trauma of combat service and the difficulty of reintegration into civilian society following a war.

  Tension between women’s conventional roles and society’s expectations of them, on the one hand, and their abilities and desires on the other, has remained constant in some form for nearly two and a half centuries. Progress toward integration has often been met with hostility until, over time, changes become the new normal. Those changes have been incremental; changes appearing radical have often been, in reality, laws passed to codify actual conditions of women’s service and to ensure that women received equal pay, benefits, and recognition for work they had already been doing.

  Perhaps most important, the story of women in America’s armed forces has been one of women’s agency. American women have seen a need for their participation in the national defense, especially in times of crisis. They stepped forward without hesitation regardless of the risk. They have initiated necessary changes and ignored the “brass ceiling” to serve to the utmost of their ability. They have not been pawns of radical feminists determined to impose change at the expense of military readiness, or victims of men in power who used their talents and discarded them on a whim. Since they first heard the call to arms against an oppressive colonial power an ocean away, America’s fighting women have been—and remain—patriots and warriors.

  Source Acknowledgments

  Excerpts have been taken from the following sources with permission. Full publication details for printed works are available in the bibliography.

  Excerpts from Mary Edwards Walker’s “Incidents Connected with the Army” are reprinted with permission of the Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries.

  Excerpts from Kittie (Whiting) Eastman Doxsee’s “Memoirs of a Spanish-American War Nurse” are reprinted with permission of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.

  Excerpts from Beatrice MacDonald’s “Experiences in a British Casualty Clearing Station and an American Evacuation Hospital during 1917 and 1918” are reprinted with permission of the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

  Excerpts from Joy Bright Hancock’s Lady in the Navy: A Personal Reminiscence are reprinted with permission of the Naval Institute Press.

  Lela Leibrand’s “The Girl Marines” originally appeared in Linda L. Hewitt’s Women Marines in World War I and is reprinted with permission of the U.S. Marine Corps, History and Museums Division.

  Excerpts from Merle Egan Anderson’s unpublished memoir, “The Army’s Forgotten Women,” are reprinted with permission of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.

  Excerpts from Charity Adams Earley’s One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC are reprinted with permission of Texas A&M University Press. Copyright Texas A&M University Press.

  Excerpts from Josette Dermody Wingo’s “Mother Was a Gunner’s Mate”: World War II in the WAVES are reprinted with permission of the Naval Institute Press.

  Excerpts from Cornelia Fort’s article were originally published in Woman’s Home Companion and are reprinted courtesy of Special Collections, Blagg-Huey Library, Texas Woman’s University.

  Excerpts from Mary C. Lyne’s Three Years behind the Mast: The Story of the United States Coast Guard SPARS are reprinted with permission of the U.S. Coast Guard.

  Excerpts from Stephanie Czech Rader’s interview are reprinted with permission of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.

  Excerpts from Ruth M. Anderson’s Barbed Wire for Sale are reprinted with permission of the author.

  Excerpts from Margaret Chase Smith’s letter to James Forrestal are reprinted with permission of the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine.

  Jean Kirnak’s “Kunuri” is reprinted with permission of the Women in Military Service for America Foundation.

  Excerpts from Sarah Griffin Chapman’s interview are reprinted with permission of the BUMED Oral History Collection.

  Excerpts from Mildred Stumpe Kennedy’s interview are reprinted with permission of the Women in Military Service for America Foundation.

  Excerpts from Lynda Van Devanter’s Home before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam are reprinted with permission of her daughter, Molly Stillman.

  Excerpts from Angel Pilato’s Angel’s Truck Stop: A Woman’s Love, Laughter, and Loss during the Vietnam War are reprinted with permission of the author.

  Excerpts from LouAnne Johnson’s Making Waves: A Woman in This Man’s Navy are reprinted with permission of the author.

  Lee Wilson’s oral history appears with permission of the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

  Excerpts from Barbara J. Dulinsky’s unpublished memoir are reprinted with permission of the Library of the Marine Corps.

  Linda Maloney’s interview previously appeared as “She’s Got Grit: A Conversation with Pioneer Navy Navigator Linda Maloney” on Shannon Huffman Polson’s blog, aborderlife.com. Excerpts are reprinted with permission of the author and the interviewer.

  Excerpts from Linda Bray’s oral history appear with permission of the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

  Mary V. “Ginger” Jacocks’s interview originally appeared in Desert Voices: An Oral History Anthology of Marines in the Gulf War, 1990–1991. Excerpts are reprinted with permission of the author.

  Excerpts from Miyoko Hikiji’s All I Could Be: My Story as a Woman Warrior in Iraq are reprinted with permission of the History Publishing Company.

  Lauren K. Halloran’s “The Inheritance of War” originally appeared as “Folio: Leaving Home, Coming Home, and Finding Home in Between” in Drunken Boat and is reprinted by permission of the author.

  Tiffany Wilson’s letters originally appeared as “Hello from Afghanistan” on the blog of the Women Marines Association, womenmarines.wordpress.com. Excerpts are reprinted with permission of the Women Marines Association.

  Lori Imsdahl’s contribution originally appeared as “Freak Accidents” in O-Dark-Thirty and is reprinted by permission of the author.

  Sylvia Bowersox’s “This War Can’t Be All Bad” originally appeared in O-Dark-Thirty and is reprinted by permission of the author.

  Brooke King’s “Redeployment Packing Checklist” was originally broadcast by KBPS and So Say We All in San Diego on May 5, 2015, and is reprinted by permission of the author.

  Bibliography

  Anderson, Merle Egan. “Women in Military Service for America.” Unpublished memoir. Women in Military Service for America Foundation, Arlington VA.

  Anderson, Ruth M., and J. M. Anderson. Barbed Wire for Sale. N.p.: Ruth M. Anderson, 1999.

  Barkalow, Carol, with Andrea Raab. In the Men’s House. New York: Poseidon Press, 1990.

  Bowersox, Sylvia. “This War Can’t Be All Bad.” O-Dark-Thirty 2, no. 4 (Summer 2014): 11–16.

  Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd: In Camp and Prison. 1865. Reprinted with a new foreword by Drew Gilpin Faust and a new introduction by Sharon Kennedy-Nolle. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998.

  Bray, Linda L. “Oral History Interview with Linda L. Bray.” 2008. Linda L. Bray Papers (WV0432.5.001). Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

  Chapman, Sarah Griffin. “U.S. Navy Medical Department Oral History Program Oral History with LT (Ret.) Sara Griffin Chapman, NC, USN.” Interview by Jan K. Herman. March 18, 2002. Navy Medicine. Accessed June 7, 2016. http://www.me
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  Coleman, Eunice. Letter, November 15, 1950. U.S. Medical Department AMEDD Records 1947–1961, RG No. 112, 390, Row 17, Compartment 34, Shelf 5–, Boxes 22–24. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park MD.

  —. Letter, January 1, 1951. U.S. Medical Department AMEDD Records 1947–1961, RG No. 112, 390, Row 17, Compartment 34, Shelf 5–, Boxes 22–24. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park MD.

  Doxsee, Kittie (Whiting) Eastman. “Memoirs of a Spanish-American War Nurse.” Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Arlington VA.

  Dulinsky, Barbara Jean. Unpublished memoir. Archives and Special Collections, Library of the Marine Corps, Quantico VA.

  Earley, Charity Adams. One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC. Texas A&M University Military History Series 12. College Station: Texas A&M University, 1989.

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  Fort, Cornelia. “At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming.” Woman’s Home Companion, June 1943. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/filmmore/reference/primary/lettersarticles01.html.