Can women cope with combat? A storm of opinions was unleashed last week in response to the US military lifting its ban on women in combat roles. Many saw the move as a positive one. Others were concerned that differences in physical strength would put teams at risk, or that women may be too compassionate for close-quarter combat. 鈥淲e need to take a more scientific approach鈥 to answering these questions, says Mary Cummings at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the first female fighter pilots in the US navy. So what can science tell us about how women deal with being in the line of fire? And is their experience any different to that of men?
Some research comes from women in the US military who have found themselves in front-line action. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way in my mind you can tell me I wasn鈥檛 in combat,鈥 says Rebekah Havrilla, who served as an explosive ordnance disposal technician in Afghanistan (see 鈥Trauma on the front line鈥, below). Most, however, comes from women who work in combat roles鈥 including infantry, commando units and tank units鈥 in a number of other countries, including Canada and Israel. But studies are thin on the ground.
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One of the main arguments against opening up combat roles to women has been physiological: that they can鈥檛 hack it, physically. Even among soldiers, women on average have about 30鈥痯er cent less muscle strength and 15 to 30鈥痯er cent less aerobic capacity than men ().
However, that doesn鈥檛 mean they cannot reach the standards needed for combat. Under the new US policy, each military department will have to prescribe new physical standards for each job鈥 which recruits will have to achieve regardless of gender.
For example, rather than requiring that an applicant be male and reach certain physical requirements, the job description may specify that applicants should be able to lift a specific weight of ammunition, or throw a grenade a set distance.
These standards will be decided using scientific research and experience of what has been necessary in the past, says Nathan Christensen of the US Department of Defense (DoD).
Automated kit
Regardless, physiology may become moot, says Cummings, 鈥渂ecause in the end the computer beats us all鈥. Exoskeletons designed to reduce stress on the body may be deployed in war zones as early as next year. Other types of automated kit can also take the strain out of heavy lifting (see 鈥Taking the weight out of war鈥, below).
Another argument has been that women are more likely to be traumatised by combat than men. Here, the available evidence cuts both ways. In a study of 450鈥痵oldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces involved in basic combat training, female soldiers displayed higher stress levels for longer periods of time than male soldiers (, doi.org/d3dxqt).
However, a study of female US soldiers who experienced direct combat during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars found that women felt no more threatened than men in war zones, and were as resilient to combat-related stress鈥 reflected in the similar rates of mental health problems between veterans of both sexes after they returned home (, doi.org/ch637r).
And what of compassion on the front line? A 2004 analysis from Princeton University suggests that in stressful situations almost anyone can end up displaying uncompassionate and violent behaviour鈥 regardless of gender (, doi.org/dxpcc5). The authors suggest that behaviour in these situations is influenced as much by authority figures, peer pressure and other social interactions as by the psychology of the individual. Intimidation by authority figures was cited by US soldier Lynndie England, convicted in 2005 for the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
One difference is clear: there are more reported cases of women in the US forces experiencing sexual harassment or sexual assault by colleagues during deployment than men. In the latest Department of Defense on sexual assault in the military, 3393 service members reported being sexually assaulted between 2010 and 2011鈥 88 per cent of these were female. The DoD report states that they are working to improve response times to assault claims and prioritising prevention strategies and systems to improve accountability.
Ultimately, opening up combat jobs to women will allow more women to advance their careers and break through the 鈥渂rass ceiling鈥, says Havrilla, adding that this will allow for more social change throughout the military. 鈥淲hen we see people as people, and say 鈥榚veryone here has met the standard and everyone here is qualified鈥, that lessens the concept of something being feminine or weak,鈥 she says. 鈥淭here are a lot of implications down the road.鈥
Trauma on the front line
Would Rebekah Havrilla have joined the infantry if she had been allowed? 鈥淗ell yes!鈥 the former sergeant says. 鈥淚鈥檝e always thought of myself as being able to do anything I put my mind to. I saw the military as a way
to prove that to myself and to other people, but unfortunately the military didn鈥檛 see it that way at the time.鈥 Havrilla joined the army鈥檚 Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit鈥 also known as the bomb squad鈥 because it was the closest she could get to a combat role. She served in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007, working with infantry and Special Forces units, dealing with anything that could explode. 鈥淲e went in and found forensic data that indicated what it was, who made it, stuff like that,鈥 she says.
There鈥檚 no such thing as a front line, she says, and her role regularly took her into the line of fire. 鈥淎nywhere you are you have the potential to deal with combat related incidents. One of my friends was killed because a rocket hit the chow hall tent.鈥
Havrilla reckons there should be one physical standard across the board. 鈥淚 know a lot of men who couldn鈥檛 meet certain physical standards, and I know a bunch of women who could. If you can do it, great. If you can鈥檛, move on.鈥
While Havrilla was in active service, she was often the only woman in the EOD unit. She says this contributed to her having little support when she experienced sexual harassment. 鈥淚 got stuck with some bad apples, and had to deal with it,鈥 she says.
Havrilla now works with the US national help line. She says she sees more trauma associated with sexual violence than with combat.
鈥淚n the long run, I think we will hopefully see a decrease in sexual violence鈥 now that women are allowed in combat roles, she says. 鈥淎ny time an organisation is more diverse, that鈥檚 beneficial to that organisation.鈥
Taking the weight out of war
Women who wish to serve on the front line will be subject to the same physical standards as men, but there are some technologies that could give both sexes a helping hand.
Take for example, the HULC Exoskeleton, developed by US defence firm Lockheed Martin. It uses a lithium-ion battery to power hydraulics that allow users to carry up to 90 kilograms for extended periods of time. 鈥淢en or women can use HULC to reduce stress on the body, thereby reducing the potential for injury,鈥 says Melissa Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the company.
The XOS2, an exoskeleton developed by UK defence company Raytheon, directly augments upper arm strength as well as carrying ability, allowing soldiers to lift more weight than they could naturally. One model of the XOS2 is designed specifically to help front-line logistics workers who need to move things like weapons crates and missiles.
Humans may not need to do much heavy hauling at all, once Alpha Dog 鈥 a four-legged robotic pack mule鈥 is deployed into war zones. The robot, developed by US research agency DARPA, can autonomously follow a person, while hauling 180 kilograms of gear, as well as serving as a backup power source for a patrolling squad.
