“No good deed goes unpunished”
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – The second female Soldier since World War II was awarded a Silver Star Thursday for her gallant actions during combat in Afghanistan last year. Spc. Monica Brown, 19, a Lake Jackson, Texas, native was presented her Silver Star by Vice President Dick Cheney during a ceremony at Bagram Airfield.
Spc. Brown was pulled from combat duty shortly after her heroic acts that won her the
silver star. You see, Spc. Brown wasn’t supposed to be on that patrol
because she’s a woman. Army restrictions on women in combat barred her from such missions. Lt. Martin Robbins, a platoon leader with Charlie Troop, 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, whose men Brown saved, acknowledged that they were not supposed to take her out on patrol, but she was the only medic available. Military personnel experts say that the 1992 rules are vague, ill defined, and based on an outmoded concept of wars with clear front lines that rarely exist in today’s counterinsurgencies.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, non combat units in which women serve face many of the same threats that all-male combat arms units do and are performing well, commanders say. Army personnel were consistent in their perception that a strict adherence to the Army policy would have negative implications and that the policy should be revised or revoked.
In my opinion, the only criteria for getting the job done, should be – can the person do the job? If the answer is “No”, then regardless of gender, that person should not be doing that job. If the answer is “Yes” then that person should be allowed to do that job. I am not advocating “dumming down” the standards that the military has set but I am saying that gender should not be one of the criteria. Why should we as a nation set arbitrary standards that deny nearly half the population a chance at certain jobs? Yes, most women would not want to be combat infantry and yes most of them would not meet the standards, but some would. Should they be told sorry sister you can’t serve your country in this job because you’re a girl.
If you can do the job, you should at least have a chance at getting the job. As Spc. Monica Brown has proven, she could do the job, in fact did it spectacularly well, and the reward she got was, “You’re fired”.
