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United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter made history Thursday by announcing that women in the military can now serve in combat roles. The military has spent a number of years researching and weighing the pros and cons of allowing female service members to take on more roles. Although the announcement opens up all positions previously unavailable to female service members, some restrictions still remain on certain jobs. “What we’re focused here on is mission effectiveness — protecting our country and protecting our people. That’s the principal reason to do this, and so we’re going to need to do it according to standards,” Carter said. In his announcement, Carter made clear that giving women equal opportunity in the military would not necessarily mean equal participation. Certain specialty positions believed to require a level of physical capability not possessed by the average women, such as loading artillery, will ultimately remain staffed by mostly men. Carter consulted each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leaders of the various branches of the military including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Operations and the Marine Corps, before making his decision. When asked how the implementation of this new policy would compare to other major turning points in U.S. military history, such as integration or the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which affected gay soldiers, Carter said he has full faith in the military’s ability to adapt. “When we took on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ we did it in a quality, thoughtful way that made it a success,” Carter said. “We’ll make a success of this as well.Vocab
all-volunteer army
– also known as a volunteer military, is one which derives its members from volunteers rather than mandatory service
quota
– a fixed number or percentage of a particular group of people based on factors such as race or gender which may be needed to meet certain requirements
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
– the U.S. policy issued in 1993 which prohibited gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the military; it was repealed in 2011
Warm up questions
- Did you know that before now, women in the military were not allowed to serve in combat roles? Why do you think that was?
- Why do you think the military has prohibited certain groups of people, including gays and lesbians, African-Americans and women from serving at different points in history?
- Who do you know personally who has served in the military?
Critical thinking questions
- How did the existence of an all-volunteer army affect Secretary Carter’s decision to allow women to serve in all combat jobs?
- Why do you think the Commandant of the Marine Corps does not support opening up all combat specialties to women?
- What did Secretary Carter mean when he said quality of opportunities does not guarantee quality of participation?
- What is the significance of the U.S. military changing its stance over the years and allowing more groups of people to serve?
