Teen girls may now be sent into combat
When we say “teens” we mean girls who are 17 to 19 and serve in the military. Technically speaking they are teenagers defending our country.
On January 24, 2013, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced plans to clear the way for women to serve in many combat positions in the U.S. armed forces. The decision replaces a 1994 military policy that excluded women from assignments to units below the brigade level if the unit would be engaged in direct combat.
The long-held arguments that women don’t have enough upper-body strength, they can’t run as fast, and their monthly cycle interferes with being on the front lines haven’t proven to be the case over the past twenty years that women have actually been on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army Sgt. & medic Lori Naifeh in Iraq
Panetta said it would strengthen both the military and the country and that it was “the responsibility of every citizen to protect the nation. . . . If they can meet the qualifications for the job,” he said, “then they should have the right to serve.”
President Barack Obama said in a statement that the decision would “be another step toward fulfilling our nation’s founding ideals of fairness and equality.” He added that the deaths of more than 150 American military women in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate that “valor knows no gender.” Approximately 15% of our armed forces are women with 1,000 having been wounded in the nation’s two most recent wars.
The change won’t take effect immediately but is expected to be in place later this year.
