Ladies a step closer to combat - Army plan for key role in indirect fighting

[Jai_Hind]

Ladies a step closer to combat

can someone get the story... I am in a cellphone

 

[Imran Khan]

i surrender we can't shot a women

 

[Chronos]

i surrender we can't shot a women

How many pegs did you drink today Imran Sahib?

Hope the story is true, and armed combat is taught to a lot of Women in India, at least a lot of pervs will meet an end to their useless lives.

 

[OrionHunter]

Lady officers in the Indian Army will only be allowed to command artillery batteries, lead sappers to lay or clear minefields and fly helicopters into hostile territory. That's it!

No front line combat for them by joining infantry regiments, which is the real deal. Even the armored corps is out of bounds for them.

 

[GR!FF!N]

Ladies a step closer to combat

can someone get the story... I am in a cellphone

New Delhi, Jan. 13: Lady officers in the Indian Army will command artillery batteries, lead sappers to lay or clear minefields and fly helicopters into hostile territory if a proposal to be made by the chief, Gen. Bikram Singh, later this week is accepted.

This takes women closer to being drafted for combat but strictly in the arena of indirect, or distanced, fighting. Sappers, for instance, are soldiers who support the infantry by performing tasks such as building roads and bridges.

This means the military top brass will still not consider lady officers for service in the infantry, mechanised infantry, special forces or armoured regiments.

The navy still does not permit women in warships and the air force does not let them pilot combat aircraft. The 1.2-million-strong Indian army is overwhelmingly male-dominated. Of about 47,600 officers, there are only 1,500 positions for women.

Gen. Singh, who had last month asked unit commanders and regiments to be more sensitive and accommodate the career aspirations of working wives, is scheduled to make a presentation on Thursday to defence minister A.K. Antony on opportunities to draft lady officers into combat-support arms.

The minister had asked the services for such presentations after a study headed by a committee comprising officers from the army, the navy and the air force recommended the gradual opening of permanent commissions to lady officers in 2010.

“There are certain bindings (on opening permanent commissions to lady officers), but we have a comprehensive plan to enhance the scope,” Gen. Singh said at a news conference today. He said the possibility of lady officers — who had shown “exemplary performance” — in combat or direct fighting-arms, like the infantry and the mechanised infantry, could be considered later.

Gen. Singh said the American experience of women in or near combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan was leading militaries the world over to re-assess their potential.

The primary reason to consider permanent commissions is economic: women are demanding the security of longer tenures just like the men who are officers.

Lady officers are currently recruited only on short service commission (SSC) that entails a maximum service of 14 years. They serve in the legal, administrative and staff positions and also as helicopter pilots away from combat zones, apart from serving in the medical corps (in which they are granted permanent commissions).

Men who are officers in the army on permanent commission serve 20 years and more (depending on promotions).

The quieter, but no less intensive, debates around women’s roles concern both cultural and operational issues.

One is whether men subordinate to lady officers are prepared to accept and execute commands in the battlefield. For example, a lady officer commanding an artillery regiment of, say, Bofors guns, would be expected to illustrate the arming, targeting and the firing of the howitzers before commanding the men to do so. Another question, of physical strength in evacuating the wounded from the battlefield, is still to be resolved.

Perhaps, more important, a government and social decision on how to resolve risks associated with direct combat — such as surrender, being taken prisoner-of-war or being taken hostage — is still pending.

“There are certain vagaries of the battlefield. As far as the combat arms are concerned, the decision (to draft lady officers) will have to be taken over a period of time. Till then, there would be additional options for staff (appointments), including taking on some command portfolios at certain points of time,” the army chief said.

The opening of combat support wings potentially means that they will command artillery batteries, function as intelligence gatherers and fly recce and surveillance helicopters into hostile zones.

 

[jhungary]

Give a woman a set of Military fatigue, and she instantly become sex symbol...

For I say, let the women be equal, if they want to join the infantry, we should let them, if they pass the same test for man

 

[janon]

Give a woman a set of Military fatigue, and she instantly become sex symbol...

For I say, let the women be equal, if they want to join the infantry, we should let them, if they pass the same test for man

Unfortunately, there are cultural issues that cannot be overcome at the present time. For instance, we can't have men and women holed up together in a bunker in the LoC. Or sharing a tent in a forward post, miles away from anywhere.

This is a good start to giving women a larger role. I think that women in the army aviation corps should get the same opportnities as men, careerwise. They can fly helicopters and transport aircrafts equally well, so there is no reason why they should only get a short service commision.

 

[jhungary]

Unfortunately, there are cultural issues that cannot be overcome at the present time. For instance, we can't have men and women holed up together in a bunker in the LoC. Or sharing a tent in a forward post, miles away from anywhere.

This is a good start to giving women a larger role. I think that women in the army aviation corps should get the same opportnities as men, careerwise. They can fly helicopters and transport aircrafts equally well, so there is no reason why they should only get a short service commision.

Today world is not like yesteryear, when you have a clear front line and control territories.

Today battlefield does not have a clear front line, a routine patrol inside safe zone can turn into a fight for your life in an instant

Now there are no Non-Combat job in the Military, especially in the Army. If women were allowed in the Army, then there are increased chance that they will see combat, regardless of position.

But then you need to ask yourselves, is today women trained enough for ground combat?

You know eventually they will go down the field as a boots on the ground, when women fight along with male soldier and not trained enough for, it would be a very dangerous situation for those women and you

I am not saying they should all be Army Ranger or something, but the combat training for a desk clerk or medical orderly is a joke, and if we expected them to end up in battle anyway, wouldn't it be wise to train them accordingly?

1.9 years in Middle East, I had seen countless women facing down the barrel of an enemy gun, some did it alright but other is just...well, let's leave it like that

 

[janon]

Today world is not like yesteryear, when you have a clear front line and control territories.

Today battlefield does not have a clear front line, a routine patrol inside safe zone can turn into a fight for your life in an instant

Now there are no Non-Combat job in the Military, especially in the Army. If women were allowed in the Army, then there are increased chance that they will see combat, regardless of position.

But then you need to ask yourselves, is today women trained enough for ground combat?

You know eventually they will go down the field as a boots on the ground, when women fight along with male soldier and not trained enough for, it would be a very dangerous situation for those women and you

I am not saying they should all be Army Ranger or something, but the combat training for a desk clerk or medical orderly is a joke, and if we expected them to end up in battle anyway, wouldn't it be wise to train them accordingly?

1.9 years in Middle East, I had seen countless women facing down the barrel of an enemy gun, some did it alright but other is just...well, let's leave it like that

In the India-Pak scenario, there is still an international border and a Line of Control. We haven't fought wars in foreign territory in a long time, so chances of ambush etc are minimal. In insurgency ridden areas like parts of Kashmir, occasionally Pakistani terrorists do ambush our forces, but then IA doesn't send women into those areas either.

If IA was going for a war on foreign shores like we did in Sri Lanka, or the US army is doing in Afgh, then it would be wise to give every woman soldier the same training as men.

As of now, women's roles in the IA are very limited, mostly to the legal, administrative and medical branch. All of them do go through basic training and can handle weapons, but are not as trained as the infantrymen. If they are expected to go into combat zones, say as pilot or in any other role, then I agree that they should be given the same training as men.

 

[Rashid Mahmood]

The US Armed Forces have had women in military service since 1948, and they still haven't put women in combat roles. There must be a reason...


U.S. Military Vows to Put Women in Combat Roles by 2016

Officials from all military service branches told Congress today they can open combat positions to women by 2016 without lowering physical or performance standards

Six months after the Pentagon announced it was lifting a ban on women serving in ground-combat units, military officials charged with implementing the policy said they’ve started the studies needed to make it work.

“I don’t envy you,” Representative Joe Heck, a Nevada Republican, said today at a hearing by the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel subcommittee. “As you know, there’s not universal acceptance of this concept.”

Ending the ban will open as many as 237,000 positions to women by January 2016. The three-year process will require what officials describe as a methodical review of the physical standards needed for each combat job to determine how best to measure fitness and whether some positions will need to remain restricted to men.

“We’re not going to lower standards,” said Juliet Beyler, the Defense Department’s director of officer and enlisted personnel management. “It’s not a matter of lowering or raising standards. The key is to validate the standard to make sure it’s the right standard for the occupation.”

While women have been a permanent part of the military services -- as opposed to separate auxiliaries -- since a 1948 act of Congress, they have long been excluded from infantry, artillery and other ground-combat jobs. After a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan that sent more than 280,000 female troops into war zones, Pentagon leaders and women who served have said gender discrimination no longer makes sense.

 

[Hermione]

Indian women peacekeepers hailed in Liberia - CNN.com

These are Indian women trained in counter insurgency and have handled insurgency in Kashmir.

 

[Rana123]

well pakistani ladies in Army is just for office work not for combat role

 

[Rana123]

they are not taking part directly in any mission or war
you can read this article

 

[axisofevil]

Lady officers in the Indian Army will only be allowed to command artillery batteries, lead sappers to lay or clear minefields and fly helicopters into hostile territory. That's it!

No front line combat for them by joining infantry regiments, which is the real deal. Even the armored corps is out of bounds for them.

UAVs, UCAVs and other unmanned robots is definitely an area where women can excel and lead. Women have the ability to focus more than men. Create a entire class of medal devoted to killls by UCAVs and watch women win