Lifting The Ban On Army Women

  In the article "Sisters In Arms" in upfront magazine by James Dao, he describes how the U.S. military is lifting the ban on women in combat. In 2007, Staff Sgt. Stacy Pearsall and her unit came under attack. Her unit, including herself, began to fight back. This shows that women can fight in wars just as good as men.

  This article includes quotes from officials who are in charge of how the war goes including Leon Panetta, Greg Jacobs and Captain Jaime Phillips of the Canadian army. One quote that stood out to me was from Panetta who stated, "They're fighting and they're dying together, and the time has come for our policies to reflect that reality." This quote stood out to me because it is a true statement. Even though I don't agree with the idea of war in general, the quote speaks true. If women are dying and fighting just as the men do, the law should be lifted and let women have the right to fight if they want.

  I am neutral about women getting the right to fight in combat. I just don't really know how to react. It is good for women who have been serving the army for years and finally get the chance to fight legally; then I am also not because I believe we cannot have the women die because they are also mothers and without mothers we cannot really have a U.S.

  This article makes me think that if women were already fighting and dying for the army, why wasn't the ban already lifted before now? I understand that they wanted to protect women; which I believe as well; but I also believe we can't hold back different sexes back just because of what we want. Women are strong and can handle things so they should have let them fight from the start. Who knows, maybe women will be the better fighters anyway.