Friday 5/20/2005
Congress Moves to Halt Army Assignment of Women to Combat

Listen | More on this broadcast

You can’t pick up a newspaper without seeing articles about our brave women soldiers in combat. In some, like a recent Washington Post article, commanders openly admit sending women on combat missions, in direct violation of the law barring women from such missions. In January, the Army deployed its first reorganized combat unit, the 3rd Infantry, in a way that "collocates" female support personnel with combat troops, in violation of the law banning women from ground combat.

Now Congress is stepping in. As a part of the Defense Authorization Bill, members of the House Armed Services Committee have voted to freeze the positions open to women until the matter can be examined more closely. Martha Kleder spoke with Elaine Donnelly, president of The Center for Military Readiness





Chairman Duncan Hunter on Women in Combat (2:10)
Addressing the mark-up session of the 2006 Defense Appropriations bill, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, (R-California) says confusing data from the Department of the Army and e-mails from service members on the matter of the assignment of women to combat units prompted an amendment. Click here to listen.





Congress Sees Need to Intervene in the Army’s Plans for Women (6:51)
A great ally of Concerned Women for America on this issue is Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness. Martha Kleder, CWA policy analyst attended the hearing with Elaine. Through the day, different amendment language was proposed; some good, some terrible. Elaine has more on the day’s developments. Click here to listen.

*For more information on the women in combat issue and a strong critique of the article in The Washington Post, see this commentary by Charmaine Yoest, a friend of CWA and the daughter of our own Dr. Janice Crouse.

Archive | Search

Concerned Women Today is available via Real Player.
To download your free version of Real Player, click the icon at your left.

To send your feedback to the radio show, e-mail us,
or call us at 1-800-527-9600.

To purchase resources mentioned on Concerned Women Today
or to donate to CWA, call 1-800-527-9600.