How to Succeed in the U.S. Military: Women's Army Corps Manners, Etiquette, Hair, Make-Up

• published: 03 Mar 2015
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How to Succeed in the U.S. Military: Women's Army Corps Manners, Etiquette, Hair, Make-Up (1970) Women have been involved in the U.S. military since 1775, but more in the civilian fields of nursing, laundering and mending clothing, and cooking. In 1917 Loretta Walsh became the first woman to enlist. But it was not until 1948 that a law was finally passed that permanently made women a permanent part of the military services. In 1976, the first group of women was admitted into a U.S military academy. According to statistics only 15.6 percent of the U.S. Army's 1.1 million soldiers are female. Women serve in 95 percent of all army occupations. In a one-year span, some 40,000 American military women were deployed during the Gulf War operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. But not one woman was able to take on any form of combat. In 1994 a policy prohibits women from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level. A study conducted by Matthews et al. 2009 to examine the attitudes of West Point cadets, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, and non-military-affiliated students from civilian colleges toward a variety of roles that women may serve in the military. The results showed that military cadets were less approving of women being assigned to certain military jobs than non-military students. New opportunities are starting to open up for female soldiers. Almost twenty years later, in 2013, an order was passed that allowed women the same opportunities as men in the combat arms. Female U.S Army soldiers are being asked to partake in a new training course. The training course was designed by Combined Joint Task Force Paladin, which is specifically designed for Female Engagement Team members. The course will help female soldiers in training such as training in unexploded ordnance awareness, biometrics, forensics, evidence collection, tactical questioning, vehicle and personnel searches, instructions on how homemade explosive devices are made and how to recognize if a device is homemade.[26] It is rumored that women may begin Army Ranger training by mid-2015. This change will open up hundreds of thousands front-line positions for women, some positions possibly even leading to elite commando jobs for women. This will end the policy of no women in units that are tasked with direct combat. Jobs opportunities will not be available all at once, but with each branch examining the new lift on the ban, jobs will be available as they see fit. The goal is 2016 for all assessments to be complete and have women fully integrated into all roles in the army.[27] In light of recent job opportunities opening up to females, a new movement has been created. The women of the army call it Sisters in Arms. This group was developed in hopes of helping the many female soldiers find their individual voice in the army. The program has spread throughout the Army worldwide.[23] On January 24, 2014, the US Army announced that 33,000 positions that were previously closed to women would integrate in the upcoming month of April,[28] though it still has yet to be determined if and when women may join the US Army's Special Operations community.[28] Some people think having women in a combat unit would hurt unit cohesion, because men could not trust them. There are worries about romantic or sexual relationships developing, potentially inappropriate fraternization, or that a woman might get pregnant to avoid combat. Some people are not willing to accept the risk of women being captured and tortured and possibly sexually assaulted, which happened to then-Major Rhonda Cornum.[29] Some argue that there is a shortage of male combat soldiers and that women should not be treated as second-class citizens in the military.[30] However, according to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author of On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Israeli soldiers reacted with uncontrollable protectiveness and aggression after seeing a woman wounded. Grossman also notes that Islamic militants rarely, if ever, surrender to female soldiers, lessening the IDF's ability to interrogate prisoners. On the other hand, Iraqi and Afghan civilians are often not intimidated by female soldiers. However, in such environments, having female soldiers serving in a combat unit does have the advantage of allowing for searches on female civilians. Children and women are more likely to talk to female soldiers than to male soldiers.[31] A more insidious issue is the rape of women in the military by their own. Some have alleged that a woman in the military is three times more likely than a woman in the general population to be raped,[32] and in Iraq are more likely to be attacked by one of their own than an insurgent.[33] There is currently a lawsuit in the US military in which the plaintiffs claim to have been subjected to sexual