Posted on 04/15/2011 9:35:44 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Aussie women outdo Israelis on front line
John Lyons, Mark Dodd
From: The Australian
IN a country that is on permanent war alert and trying to draw on as much of society as possible for its armed forces, Israelis react with puzzlement when told of the debate in Australia as to whether women should serve in frontline positions.
"It's not an issue for us any more," Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, spokeswoman for the Israeli Defence Forces, said.
"I should also point out that around the world you have something like 17 ministers of defence who are women, which shows women are dealing with security in high positions now." Comparisons between Israel, where military service is compulsory, and other countries over frontline roles is difficult: given the small size of Israel, most soldiers are at or near "the front line" most of the time.
The IDF says 34 per cent of its soldiers are women. Eighty-eight per cent of IDF roles are open to women, and 55 per cent of those in officers' training courses are women. The 12 per cent of roles not open to women include paratroopers, infantry combatants and a religious unit.
Colonel Leibovich says if a paratrooper goes to war, he is often accompanied by a logistics officer, who is frequently a woman. There are two female brigadier-generals in the IDF.
The IDF's website lists examples of roles in which women serve: battalion signal officers, battalions of combat engineers, artillery battalions, electronic warfare combat soldiers, the Caracal battalion, the Oketz (canine counter-terrorism) unit, aerial defence, in flight tele-processors and fighter pilots.
However, the facts show myth looms large about the much-vaunted IDF's use of women in frontline combat jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
Yeah, but are they as hawt as the IDF women?
Useless without pictures.
Just sayin’...
This be a useless thread, unless you got pitchas.
Read a little Israeli military history and you’ll find out why they don’t have women in the Infantry. Hooah don’t stop bullets.
Maybe I just an old fashioned type person but the lowly Grunt is were the work is, 100lb pack, two bandoliers for the 60,most times two canteens plus M14, ammo and a few other necessaries, all day all night and the next and the next..........
Been there! Could most women do it no. But I guess there is only one way to prove it. Live it.
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