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Women on the Front Lines

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Women on the Front Lines
Women of War: The Road to Infantry

Abstract
This paper explores several published, web-based articles and mainstream media outlets that report on the heavily discussed topic of women fighting on the front-lines of America 's military. Many of these articles favor the idea of women fighting in the military, favoring the idea of equality. Women fighting in wars is nothing new to the world as women have been playing mostly support roles for years. However, women have been restricted to pilot, engineering, and other non-combat based roles. Never seeing combat from armor such as tanks, or on foot shoulder to shoulder with their identically-trained male counterparts on the front-line. A significant year, 2013 marked major change in the American military, joining other countries on the list of nations that allow women to fight in combat roles such as infantry. The road to equality is a long one, and now the barrier of the military has finally been brought down. Perhaps no longer will they be viewed as “women in the military,” but solely as soldiers like the men they serve next to.

Women of War: The Road to Infantry America 's military is one of honor and tradition. Dating back hundreds of years, some of the principles it was founded on still exist today. A brotherhood of patriots who fight for freedom, rights, tradition, and equality. But equality is something that has come under fire in recent years, so to speak. The "don 't ask don 't tell" policy, put in place in 1993 to protect homosexual and bisexual service members, was abolished in 2011. Some policies and principles have been around much longer, however. Women fighting on the front-lines has always been a hot topic amongst both civilians and military personnel. Do women really belong out there face-to-face with terrorists engaging in close quarters combat? Should women be a part of our nation 's infantry, taking fire and fighting alongside men? Do



References: Armour, V. (2013, January 30). Women on front lines? Of course. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/30/opinion/armour-women-in-combat Bumiller, E., & Shanker, T. (2013, January 23). Equality at the Front Line: Pentagon is Set to Lift Ban on Women in Combat Roles. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/us/pentagon-says-it-is-lifting-ban-on-women-in- combat.html?pagewanted=all Fishel, J., & The Associated Press. (2013, January 24). Military leaders lift ban on women in combat roles. Fox News. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/24/panetta-opens-combat-roles-to-women/ Fisher, M. (2013, January 25). Map: Which countries allow women in front-line combat roles? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/01/25/map-which-countries- allow-women-in-front-line-combat-roles/ Johnson, L. (2013, January 23). Women In Combat: Leon Panetta Removes Military Ban, Opening Front-Line Positions. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/women-in-combat_n_2535954.html Thompson, M. (2013, January 24). Women in Combat: Shattering the 'Brass Ceiling. ' US Women in Combat Shattering the Brass Ceiling. Retrieved from http://nation.time.com/2013/01/24/women-in-combat-shattering-the-brass-ceiling/

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