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thedrifter
04-02-09, 07:20 AM
American Women in Combat

Last Edited: Tuesday, 31 Mar 2009, 6:21 PM EDT
Created On: Tuesday, 31 Mar 2009, 5:35 PM EDT
John Henrehan

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congress may soon re-examine the Pentagon's current policy of excluding females from assignment to companies engaged in "direct ground combat."

Dozens of Congressional staff members attended the viewing of a PBS-Independent Lens documentary called Lioness on Tuesday. The documentary recounts the stories of female American Army and Marine personnel assigned to the Lioness program in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

The women service personnel were needed to handle Muslim women in sometimes-fierce neighborhood confrontations during that period. They were mustered from "support" companies, such as mechanics or military police.

The female soldiers and Marines wound up in the middle of "active fire fights with bullets and rounds coming at me," according to Army Staff Sgt. Ranie Ruthig.

Since women are sometimes already effectively operating as combat troops, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin believes the military's exclusion policy, "should be revisited [and] re-evaluated."

Video

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/033109_american_women_in_combat

Ellie