Posted on 05/13/2005 2:16:07 PM PDT by strategofr
Urgent Message To: Friends of CMR
From: Elaine Donnelly, President, Center for Military Readiness
Re: Hunter/McHugh Bill to Codify DoD Regulations on Women in Land Combat – Your Help Needed
I am pleased to inform you that Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has co-sponsored an amendment to the 2006 Defense Authorization Bill that would prevent top Army officials from unilaterally changing regulations that exempt female soldiers from having to serve in land combat-collocated support units.
Chairman Hunter requested that Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, insert language into the National Defense Authorization Act expressly prohibiting women from serving in Forward Support Companies (FSC’s), which “collocate” (operate with) land combat units 100% of the time. The Hunter/McHugh amendment passed on a 9-7 partisan vote on May 11:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101867_pf.html
http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/owens/owens200505120814.asp
The new language became necessary when the Army unilaterally altered the rule that prohibited women from serving in support units that “collocate” with smaller land combat battalions in infantry and armor (tank) forces. The Army’s new, unauthorized policy applies that rule only when a combat unit begins “conducting” ground combat. This would require evacuation of female soldiers in Forward Support Companies on the eve of a battle, when embedded support troops are needed most. Such a policy would be extremely disruptive, demoralizing, and dangerous for all concerned.
The Army’s unilateral change in the DoD collocation rule was included in a “Message from the Army Leadership,” signed by Army Secretary Harvey, and published in the March issue of the Army’s official magazine Soldiers. The word “conducting” also appears in a 4-page “Women in the Army Point Paper” produced by the Office of the Secretary of the Army on January 24. As first reported by CMR, that paper makes arbitrary and unauthorized changes in the gender codes of 24 of 225 positions in a typical forward support company to accommodate women.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apparently did not approve the change, or provide Congress with official notice of it in advance, as required by law. Even though Army officials have claimed that changes are only “unofficial” or under “study,” they are already being implemented in the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, which is currently in Iraq.
Contrary to over-heated protests from Democrats on the HASC and from Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey and Vice Chief Gen. Richard Cody, the Hunter/McHugh amendment does not affect larger brigade-level support units in which women currently serve. In fact, the amendment merely codifies regulations that the Army is subject to right now.
Members of the full House Armed Services Committee will consider the measure on Wednesday, May 18. Chairman Hunter and the Republicans on the Armed Services Committee deserve immediate support for taking this initiative.
Please write to your own member of Congress and ask them to support the Hunter/McHugh amendment to codify current DoD regulations on women in combat. You can find and communicate you’re your own member of Congress by going to http://www.house.gov/writerep/.
If your Representative in Congress is on the Armed Services Committee, it is even more important that you write or call immediately. Here is a link to the list of members of the HASC:
http://armedservices.house.gov/about/members.html
Your CMR has been putting the spotlight on this issue for months, and we will do all we can to provide the information needed to bring this effort to a conclusion that is helpful to both men and women in the military, and the Army as a whole.
Thank you for your help and concern.
Elaine Donnelly
President
CENTER FOR MILITARY READINESS
elaine@cmrlink.org
Post Office Box 51600
Livonia, MI 48151
I'm all for them in combat:
one they're available to be drafted;
they're in their own gender-specific units;
they're subject to the same PT scores and standards;
they're subject to fines if they miss deployment due to
pregnancy.
Q -- This amendment keeps women out of combat? (I got lost in the details and double-negatives). Thanks for clarifying.
Yeah, the letter is to supporters who are up on the issues. That is the whole goal of this organization---keep women out of combat.
Yes this would be disruptive and demoralizing and dangerous so make sure that NO WOMEN EVER BE ALLOWED IN FORWARD AREAS PERIOD.
Shut down the Dacowitch Femanazis once and for all let them take their agenda elsewhere...Cuba or China for example
imo
thanks for posting this. I'd better get on their mailing list. It sounds like a good organization.
I'm also surprised that the feminazis haven't demanded changes in the Geneva Convention to ensure that females in combat MUST receive flowers, a good meal and soft music BEFORE being raped. Their drill is to urge equality and once parity is obtained, demand special considerations that recognize that they are, after all, princesses rather than, say, soldiers.
While I firmly believe that women have no place in a combat zone, it is really insulting to any that currently serve what you wrote. The 38 that have died while serving their country deserve better from this forum. Very few that I have run into have any desire to be in a combat unit, but those that says they do are full of poop and are very few in number.
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