Combat Medic- Your absolutely right that there has not been a general furor over women coming home in body bags from Iraq. I would however point to the Jessica Lynch example as the media (and military public relations and various other factions) going nuts, primarily because she was a young woman. The case was blown completely out of proportion, both due to the public's interest, the media's fanning of the flames, and the US military's attempts to win some PR points.
However, I'd also add that the US does not generally pay much attention to casualties and body bags coming home. Compare the attention that a half dozen Canadian dead over the past few years has received to the planeloads of coffins coming back from Iraq (if Canada lost 30 soldiers in a single incident, I think the Government would fall and CF be paralyzed for decades with inquiries). I think Canadian reaction to many female deaths would be notable, but not enough to change policy - if anything, they'd just stop sending the army anywhere.
pbi - A few years ago (three? four?) I recall a well-publicized case - by well publicized I mean it made the papers here in Vancouver, even the front page for a day - of female candidates and WATC training staff. WATC instructors (PPCLI QL3 instructors I believe) were in serious trouble because they had been holding female candidates to the same physical standards as set for men. A high percentage of female recruits (almost all of them?) had failed as a result, and that had drawn attention of higher-ups. Anyone else remember this or have more detail?
I think there are two seperate issues here. The first is the theoretical concept of women in Cbt Arms, and the second, as pbi stated, is the policies that put women into these units.
While I personally have trouble with the notion of women in combat arms for various reasons related to average phsyical ability and social costs of integration, I don't see it as a big issue - its here to stay, and as Infanteer has pointed out, women are such a smal percentage in combat units that the question is largely irrelevant. In the end a Canadian platoon/company/battalion will not be weak or fail because of a couple female soldiers, it will fail or be weak because of inadequate support, lack of tanks/helicopters, poor trainining, etc.
What I think gets all of us upset is the unequal and sexist policies that the CF (and other militaries, I know the IDF has ridiculous policies regarding this) that are put in place to allow integration. These policies are mainly centered around the double standard for PT and the lowered overall standards on courses/in units that allow weak men and women to remain.(I also have a problem with the way in which DND has sought to attract female recruits). Its important to identify the difference between disliking how woman are integrated with disliking women in the unit period.
I believe DND's policies regarding integration, at all phases of a woman's recruitment and career, are demeaning to the (female)soldier and do more to undermine unit cohesion and confidence than anything that female soldier could do.
Soldiers First
