United States Army Women's Museum
More than 3,100 Americans have been killed there since the invasion nearly four years ago. 75 of the fatalities have been women. That's more than the total number of women killed in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the first Gulf War. This has heightened controversy over the roles women are playing in the war. The Pentagon says it keeps women out of direct combat - as required by law. But critics charge that the Pentagon is bending the rules. The World's Katy Clark has the story.
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Clark: There's a new exhibition at the United States Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee in Virginia. It recognizes the contributions of the women who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan. You might call Leigh Ann Hester the star of the show. The army sergeant is the first woman ever awarded the Silver Star for direct combat action. A life-sized model at the museum pays tribute to her - and she's not necessarily comfortable with all the attention.
SGT Hester: "Yea, I'm kind of reluctant to be in the spotlight...."
SGT Leigh Ann HesterClark: Sergeant Hester isn't sure that she deserves a special honor for what she did in iraq on March 20, 2005.
SGT Hester: "It over shadows everyone else's actions that day in our squad."
Clark: That squad was technically a support unit but it came under attack while it was escorting a convoy south of Baghdad. Sergeant Hester crept along a dirt trench to get a better shot at the attackers - all the while being sprayed with enemy fire. Lieutenant-Colonel Darrel Shirley praises Sergeant Hester's actions. He says the military couldn't do the things it does without soldiers like her.
Lt-Col Shirley: "I think Sergeant Hester proved it doesn't matter what sex you ar. As long as we as a nation can train our young people to be effective soldiers, they can go out an accomplish any task the president or the people call on the army to do."
Clark: But not everyone is so pleased with the combat heroics of Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester. Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness. She says women are being sent into combat situations in Iraq, contrary to the law.
 museum display
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Donnelly: "They're being physically placed or employed in areas that are required to be all male."
Clark: Donnelly believes the army is violating regulations that bar women from support units that are embedded with combat troops. For instance, women can serve as medics, but they're not supposed to accompany an infantry unit to the front lines. Donnelly says the Pentagon can change the rules on women in combat. It simply has to follow the appropriate law.
Donnelly: "That law which remains on the books, has been on the books for long time. 30 days legislative in advance, that's roughly three months in calendar years."
Clark: Donnelly isn't the only one concerned about the growing number of women on the front lines. Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter took up the fight two years ago, when he chaired the House Armed Services Committee. Hunter tried to clarify the policy on keeping women troops out of support units if the primary mission of those units is ground combat. Hunter eventually dropped the issue. and the current chairman, Democrat Ike Skelton, has no immediate plans to revisit it.
David Segal wishes Congress would. Segal runs the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. He says it's vital that Congress update the policy that excludes women from combat.
Segal: "The combat exclusion policy for ground forces was based on assumptions of a fairly conventional ground war with front line...
OUT WORDS: That's not way the current war's being fought and probably not the way our future wars are going to be fought."
Clark: The current policy stems from a 1994 defense department regulation that bars women from serving in most direct combat roles. Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty insists that the army is being faithful to that rule.
Lt-Col Hilferty: "We are clearly following the law and clearly following DOD policy."
Clark: That's not to say that female soldiers aren't finding themselves in some hairy situations these days. But Colonel Hilferty says that's no different from the way it's always been.
Lt-Col Hilferty: "The moment women were rightfully so allowed to join the Army they were going to be in combat. Soldiers by definition are involved in combat. And they always have been. Even if you were a cook in 1850 tehre was a chance you'd be involved in combat."
Clark: But critic Elaine Donnelly maintains that commanders are now knowingly deploying women in combat situations and she says that's causing problems on the ground.
Donnelly: "I keep hearing messages from the field, both from men and women, saying something's not right here. At least if there are regulations, why are leaders not following those regulations? It's confusing, demoralizaing, and sets stage for some incidents that would be quite harmful to our military."
Clark: Back at the United States Army Women's Museum, honoree Leigh Ann Hester just doesn't get why people still believe that women don't belong in combat.
SGT Hester: "I don't know. I don't understand."
Sergeant Hester says if you can do the job, you can do the job. And the longer the war continues, the more chances women will have to do the job.
For The World, this is Katy Clark.
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U.S. Army Women's Museum
