U.S. Military Women Closer Than Ever to Combat Zone

 

By Zlatica Hoke

A growing number of American women are joining the U.S. Armed Forces to serve in an ever wider array of duties. In the past decade, they have eroded¹ one of the last remaining barriers in the military by entering the combat zone. Zlatica Hoke reports there is strong support for women in this role, but there is also resistance.

The capture and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in the earlier stages of the Iraq War and subsequent involvement of Private Lynndie England in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal brought the world's attention to American women in the military. Chris Hanson, professor of journalism² at the University of Maryland, says the media coverage³ of the women in service is usually unfair.

"Women in the military are shown to be either too vulnerable and too weak or somehow too strange and aberrant," says Professor Hanson. Too much focus on sex scandals, rape⁴ and other difficulties gives the impression that women hinder rather then contribute to the success of the armed forces. He says such reports feed the stereotypes⁵ which slow the progress of service women.

Yet American military women have come a long way since World War Two when 150.000 joined the Women's Army Corps⁶. These were the first to serve in the US Army in posts other than nurses. Today women make up 15% of the armed forces, says Chris Hanson, and can serve in most areas.

"When the draft ended in the early 1970's, the military needed person power," says Professor Hanson. "And they went out and started to recruit women and they opened up a lot of jobs to women that earlier had been closed to them in the military. So women ended up by now doing all kinds of specializations, many of them combat related, although they are still kept out of infantry⁷, tanks, artillery⁸."

Until the Iraq War, scant⁹ public attention was paid to this progress. But the close-up television coverage of Iraq battlefields has drawn¹⁰ attention to the number of women soldiers. Roughly one in seven Americans serving in Iraq is female. Close to 30 have died, most in combat.

"We have never seen so many female soldiers, we know that many of them are married. They are mothers. Some of them are single mothers - great numbers of them. And we are sending them to fight our wars in a way that is unprecedented¹¹, not just in American history, but in history around the world."
Ms Donnelly says many Americans are understandably upset to see women so close to enemy lines. She knows that specially¹² appointed presidential commission examined the issue of women serving in close combat in 1992 and found that their presence may indeed hinder rather than improve troops' readiness.

"In every test that's ever been done in Britain as well as the United states and in Israel it has been found that the physical differences really do put women at a disadvantage, and it is unwise to have them therefore in land combat units."

Elaine Donnelly, who was a member of the presidential commission, says the case for women in combat is based on the concept of equal opportunity, which is an important American value, but not applicable to the armed forces.

"I can summarize a huge body of information by saying this simply: female soldiers do not have an equal opportunity to survive or to help fellow soldiers survive in a combat environment," says Elaine Donnelly. Still, some countries, including the Netherlands, Canada and Denmark have lifted all restrictions¹³ on women serving in the military. Chris Hanson says a similar trend will continue in the US armed forces.

"Their controversies¹⁴ now are what other types of jobs they'll be allowed to have," says Professor Hanson. "Will women be allowed to be in the artillery, which requires less physical strength than being in the infantry? Will they be allowed to be in tanks, which in theory could be operated by someone with less physical strength just as an airplane can? I think special forces in the infantry are going be the toughest nuts to crack and they might never be cracked."

But as Elaine Donnelly points out, countries that have removed all restrictions on women in service have not engaged in combat substantially since World War Two. The United States has. "We are the nation that has taken on the bad guys. Careers are important, but when there is a conflict with the needs of the military, then military necessity should come first."

When national security is at stake, most Americans would agree that the need to maintain a strong military must take precedence over concerns about equal opportunity. Some believe that one does not exclude the other, citing historic examples from medieval French heroine to modern day women veterans. The argument will, no doubt, continue as long as there is a need for an armed service.

For focus, I'm Zlatica Hoke.

注释：
combat zone 战区
rescue 营救
scandal 丑闻
journalism 新闻业
in service 在军中服役
vulnerable 易受攻击的
aberrant 异常的
rape 强奸
stereotype 陈腔滥调
recruit 征募
specialization 特殊化
infantry 步兵
artillery 炮兵
roughly 概略地
unprecedented 空前的
hinder 阻碍
applicable 可适用的
engage in 使从事于，参加
substantially 充分地
at stake 危险
heroine 女英雄

1 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

2 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

5 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

8 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

9 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

12 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

13 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

14 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句