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Daily Mail
May 10, 2014
Women soldiers could be allowed into frontline combat roles, it was announced yesterday.
Signalling the historic change, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it was time for the Armed Forces to abandon the ‘macho’ image and show they were open to everyone who was fit enough.
He said the US, Canadian and Australian armies allowed women to serve in combat roles – and so should Britain.
But last night some former soldiers criticised the ‘politically correct’ announcement, saying it should not be considered a ‘right’ for women to fight on the front line.
One said the mixture of men and women could undermine the cohesiveness of units – putting lives at risk.
Women can find themselves on the frontline and extremely close to the enemy while serving as medics, intelligence specialists, artillery spotters, logisticians or signallers.
However, they remain barred from all infantry battalions and Royal Marine Commando units – including Special Forces – and from tank regiments and other armoured units.
Theoretically, women would be allowed to join the Special Forces, such as the SAS. But to do so they would be expected to pass the unit’s gruelling mental and physical selection process.
‘There is no way we are going to make the tests easier,’ said a defence source. The ban has not stopped women being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan where they are at risk from roadside bombs even away from the frontline.
Eight women have been killed in combat in the conflicts – 2 per cent of the total fatalities.
Among the women who have been killed serving in Iraq is a friend of Prince William. Joanna Dyer, 24, a Second Lieutenant attached to 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, trained alongside Prince William at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
Mr Hammond said yesterday that he had brought forward a planned review – to be carried out by the Chief of the General Staff – of whether women should be able to join the infantry and the armoured corps.
