In previous wars, men in combat arms units usually held the front. The lines blurred between combat and support units, and the traditional front line was erased by an insurgency that could take the fight to American troops anywhere. The decision to open combat arms came after nearly two decades of post-9/11 wars, where women were thrust into combat for the first time on a large scale due to the nature of the conflicts. Physically, youвЂ™ve got to hold your own, male or female, and lead from the front,вЂќ she said. вЂњI probably wasnвЂ™t what people thought would be the ideal candidate. The policy shifted to companies only being required to have female E5 of any military job to be in a unit before junior enlisted women can join the ranks. But the Army found that only a tiny fraction of female officers and NCOs were interested into joining the infantry or armor fields. Promising female officers have been encouraged to switch from support to infantry, armor or cavalry. Gender integration has been slowed by not having enough female infantry and armor leaders available, according to a statement from the Army in June. All leaders start as newly recruited privates, but privates couldnвЂ™t necessarily be assigned to a combat unit without a woman in a leadership role, meaning the military had to entice female officers and NCOs to switch jobs.

Critics of the policy and even the Army have said the measure slowed down gender integration. The goal was to place female leaders in combat units ahead of junior enlisted women joining the ranks. Her move to infantry was amid the ArmyвЂ™s вЂњLeaders FirstвЂќ effort, which started in 2016. She made the switch to infantry in 2019 after Virginia scaled-down military police forces. She deployed to Qatar with 3rd Battalion in 2016 and after her return, immediately went to Afghanistan with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, where she earned her combat action badge. If youвЂ™re not going into the infantry because you truly want to lead men and women to close with and destroy the enemy, which is our job, then you donвЂ™t need to do that.вЂќД«owen, 31, commissioned as a military police officer in 2012. вЂњWhen I have conversations with other females about going into combat arms and if I hear anything other than they want to get after it, itвЂ™s disappointing. But sometimes youвЂ™re too hard on yourself thinking you cannot do those things,вЂќ Haver said in a panel discussion at West Point in 2018. вЂњPossibly going into combat arms is a daunting thing to look at itвЂ™s a dirty, thankless job and youвЂ™re required to do bad things to bad people and that is not for everyone. Haver took command of a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division in 2018, and she has since been promoted to major. A year later, Griest became the ArmyвЂ™s first female infantry officer. Gender integration into combat arms kicked off in August 2015 when captains Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver became the first women to graduate Ranger School, one of the most grueling military courses in the world. As long as the standards donвЂ™t change, let the best person compete.вЂќ вЂњThe Army is changing, itвЂ™s evolving, itвЂ™s growing, weвЂ™re making sure we have the best people for the job. ItвЂ™s вЂMaybe women shouldnвЂ™t be in combat arms,вЂ™ but at the end of the day, a capable soldier is a capable soldier,вЂќ Bowen said. вЂњI think in general people have their own perceptions of what a female officer is going to be. The companyвЂ™s history traces back to Confederate general Stonewall JacksonвЂ™s brigade. She is one of the first black women to take command of a rifle company in the National Guard and the first female infantry commander in Virginia. Candice Bowen took command of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, last month. Now, five years later, women have expanded their footprint in combat arms and are taking command of units that have been exclusively male for centuries.Д¬apt. The initiative garnered a good deal of media attention for female вЂњfirstsвЂќ throughout the force. WASHINGTON - The Army has been slowly integrating women into ground combat units since the Defense Department opened all military jobs to all troops in 2015.

Combat arms 2015