Women working with Special Forces Units

For the first time in history women in the United States Army are going to be working with the elite Special Forces (SF) teams of the United States Army. The forces propelling this decision have to do with culturla considerations in Afghanistan. In Afghan culture it men do not interact with women unless it is a family member. By allowing women to accompany the SF teams on their High Value Target raids it allows the women on the objective site to be searched with out causing any un-wanted problems. The controversy behind allowing women into such a role is the exposure to combatl. Women are not allowed to be involved in combat operations intentionally and this program will continue to blur that line. While this program is new for the Army the Marine Corps has been doing for several years now with a program known as the Lioness Program. Within the USMC itself there are severely mixed feelings about allowing women into these positions but they have provided intelligence that would otherwise not have been extracted. The War on Terror is challenging American concepts on warfare and the resulting adaptations will change the face of our military forever.

Chris LeClair

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/03/new-frontier-for-military-women-serving-with-elite-unit/?hpt=wo_bn1