From Corsets and Crocheting to Kevlar and Combat: The Journey of a Female Soldier

However, female soldiers also have many tough things to do and face the risk of death. Although they join a war as nurses, they need to fight against an

Prior to WWI, women were only allowed to be a military nurse but even then, they weren 't actually enlisted. They were taking care of the men during the war and wasn’t given no type of recognition for doing so. Women 's roles

From Continental Army Soldier Deborah Samson to Army Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, American ladies have been serving in the U.S. Military for several years. Women have been a piece of the war exertion since the Revolutionary War, yet in the beginning of our country they needed to mask themselves to serve alongside men. When they were acknowledged into the military, ladies were given helper or supportive parts. As the weapons and strategies for fighting changed in the late 20th century, in any case, the Pentagon started to soon understand that whether you were female or male; it mattered less on the combat zone.

Women were clerks or nurses. Eliminating any gender-based assignment restrictions or draft will improve our military's readiness and ability to recruit and retain the most effective and qualified people. The military needs lawyers, dentists, doctors and IT professionals. They also need intelligence analysts, police officers, and trained fighters women or not. Equality means the state of being equal, especially in status, rights and opportunities.

The history study center states a job that many women did, “women ran hospitals to tend to the ill and wounded, with some women . . . even rising to the rank of physician” (Center). This quote, like said before, tells us the position of women and their military actions. Like said in this quote many are nurses, but amples amount of women wanted to fight for their land and their country, so they dressed up like men and fought in the war, instead of tending to the wounded. Some women could also discharge other women or even men.

To form an opinion on the subject it is imperative to understand women’s role in our military since its inception. During the revolutionary war many served in camps to do soldiers laundry, cook for them, and treat their wounds with permission from the commanding officers. In the Civil War women were in charge of hospitals and serving as nurses and cooks for both sides of the conflict, with the additional duty for some to act as spies. The Civil War is the first and only conflict that a woman earned the Medal of Honor; Dr. Mary Walker penetrated the enemy front lines to care for wounded Union Soldiers when no man would

In 2013 the Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta signed a document that lifted the National Defense Department 's ban on women to take part in direct ground combat roles. This decision overturned 1994’s

In 1942 the Women’s Army Corps was introduced. These women worked in more than 200 non- combatant jobs stateside and also every part of the war. They served not only as common nurses but also “within the ranks of the United States Army.” There was also the Women’s Army Corps introduced in 1942. This group of 1,100 women was asked to join and fly military aircraft, due to the shortage of pilots. Their job was to fly from factories to military bases and also different take off points around the country. Even though during their enlistment the WASP were supposed to become part of the military, after a couple years the program was cancelled. The last group the, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was already established. After being absent for twenty-three years, they had to be reactivated because of WW2. While a large portion of these women did the job of secretarial and clerical they had other jobs they did. Thousands of WAVES performed duties in aviation, medical professions, communication, intelligence, science and technology. These military jobs and the other non-traditional jobs the women participated in made them almost like a ghost in their home front.

     Women have played a tremendous role in many countries' armed forces from the past to the present. Women have thoroughly integrated into the armed forces; all positions in the armed forces should be fully accessible to women who can compete with men intellectually and physically.

Regardless of the recent policy changes, the distinction between combat and support roles are still unclear. “Since women are permitted to serve in such support units, a major barrier designed to keep them away from combat has vanished.” (Mackenzie) In today’s war there is no clear front line or a safe area in the rear, making combat support operations

When it comes to combat assignments and the needs of the military, men take precedence over all other considerations, including career prospects of female service members. Female military members have been encouraged to pursue opportunities and career enhancement within the armed forces, which limit them only to the needs and good of the service due to women being not as “similarly situated” as their male counterparts when it comes to strength or aggressiveness, and are not able to handle combat situations.

Women have been participating in the United States military since the Revolutionary War, where they were nurses, maids, cooks and even spies. They played vital roles in order to keep those fighting on the front lines healthier, and even a more important role in keeping commanding officers informed with private information stolen from the other side. Although the Revolutionary War took play in 1776, the first law to be passed that permanently stated that women have an official place in the military was in 1948, almost one hundred and seventy-two years later. Since that time there has been a lack of true growth when it comes to integration of females in the military. In 1994, a law was passed that tried to prohibit women from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level. Women are excluded from more then 25% of active combat roles within the military and only in 2013 was the ban lifted which was the final barrier to allowing women into all active roles. This has been a huge step in the direction for women being considered as being equal but there are still challenges that women face within the military. Ranging from sexual assault, discrimination, bullying, and other tactics, it is clear that for many, the military is still a “boys club.”

After years of discussion and debate it appears that soon women will be sent into combat operations in the United States military. This is the way it should be because women are ready and competent to be put into combat roles in the U.S. military. Indeed, slowly but surely, the Defense Department and Congress have been inching towards a decision that will formalize the policy; in fact the National Defense Authorization Act, put before Congress in May, 2012 by U.S. Senators John McCain and Carl Levin will in effect order the military "…to come up with a plan to send women into battle" (McAuliff, 2012). Hopes are high that this will be approved by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

I realized that although in theory women in the armed forces seemed like a good idea, there are many obstacles that make that reality very difficult to achieve. In writing this paper I am not proposing that either position is more valid or right than the other. I only hope to present each side in an equal light to help others to understand the issues involved.

After 1917, when women were allowed to join the military, the most popular job was nursing. 33,000 women served as nurses during the last two years of World War One, for the first time women were officially considered apart of America’s military (Time Line: Women in the U.S. Military). The more years that passed with women involved in the military, the more respect they gained in the