All Men Are Created Equal: But Where Does That Leave the Women?

The Army views projects as missions and analyzes former

LTC (P) Willie Rodney processes to evaluate its relevance as a world demanding

Professor, Military warfare evolves. All missions

Science have guidelines, policies, and

Morgan State restrictions to form criteria for

University missions. These three essential aspects are used to create the scope in which to operate.

One consideration for Army missions is diversity through gender-neutral standards. In January 2013,

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted the military’s ban on women serving in combat, a move that allows women into hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando units. The services had until January 2016 to implement the changes that have opened up an additional 15,000 jobs to women (Brook & Michaels 2013). Although this was a revolutionary move for the military with respect to gender equality, some argue that implementation of new policies since lifting the ban, are more detrimental to gender equality and job opportunities within the military. “Surviving on the battlefield is the ultimate goal of every mission in the Army. Ensuring that men and women are properly trained and confident, ensures the mission will be completed. “

Prior to the lifting of the ban, women served in a number of combat positions, including piloting warplanes or serving on ships in combat areas (Brook & Michaels, 2013). However, certain jobs within the military are coded only for those who have served in the infantry and armor branches. Major General Retired Heidi Brown, an Air Defense Artillery officer, was the first woman to command a combat arms brigade; one that she took to combat. But despite her groundbreaking feats she was limited to what positions she could serve in because she was not infantry or armor. Brown recalled in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), “Earlier in her career, a battalion commander wanted her to be his oper

ations officer, but when he went to file the paperwork he was told that the position was “coded out to women,” which meant that no woman could have that job because she would be working for a unit involved in direct combat” (Martin, 2011). Brown also noted, “It is almost impossible to get on the promotion fast track in the Army without leading troops in ground combat, which women aren’t allowed to do” (Martin, 2011). With the restrictions preventing women from serving on the front line now lifted, this barrier should no longer be a problem. When the Army decided to open up combat arms to women it also implemented the Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT). The OPAT is a battery of four physical fitness test events that are used to assess an individual’s physical capabilities to engage in physically demanding Army tasks. Brian Sutton, a US Army Recruiting Command spokesperson said, “It is designed to put the right people in the right jobs and to ensure we keep our recruits safe while doing so.” OPAT scoring is gender-neutral, he added. Selection criteria is a part of acquiring the right leaders. Experience, knowledge, skills, and attitudes determine positions in both missions (PMI, 2017). All Soldiers, male and female, must pass the same physical standards for their desired career field. In addition to the OPAT, the Army has also done away with its traditional physical training test and replaced it with the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). The introduction of women into combat arms further emphasized the need for a single-standard test. The United States Army ACFT is designed to better reflect the stresses of a combat environment, to address the poor physical fitness of recruits, and to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries for service members. In the Army’s decision to seek quality recruits, quality requirements shifted to test overall body fitness. The study conducted in 2018 on initial entry training (IET) recruits discovered that the administration of the OPAT test had an adverse impact on the passing rate of women (Sharp, Foulis, & Redmond, 2018). Male IET recruits passed the OPAT at a far greater rate than their female counterparts. Prior to women being allowed in all combat arms, there was no such quality requirement like the OPAT for men or women. Based on the purpose of the OPAT, the results demonstrate that they keep more women out of combat arms than men. However, it has been noted that the Army has had a greater success rate of retaining recruits since the implementation of the OPAT. The ACFT has also had adverse results on women. Initial data showed a jaw-dropping 36% of soldiers overall failed the test, with 64% passing. When broken down by gender, 70% of men passed and 84% of women failed the test (Brown, 2019). This has led to many determining the ACFT is discriminatory to women; although, Kelly Buckner, an Army Civil Affairs officer noted, “most of the failures were attributed to the leg tuck—an abdominal exercise, and the APFT’s abdominal exercise, the sit-up, is the only event on the current test with gender-neutral scoring.” She further emphasized, “more broadly, the test does not require men and women to compete head to head, but simply requires everyone to meet basic minimum standards; standards that ensure everyone can survive on a gender-neutral battlefield and physically carry their share” (Buckner, 2019). Surviving on the battlefield is the ultimate goal of every mission in the Army. Ensuring that men and women are properly trained and confident, ensures the mission will be completed. The purpose of the new ACFT is to provide a diverse standard with job-specific qualifications, and mission preparedness through creating a combat-like fitness regime. This implementation of the ACFT was comparable to the plan-do-checkact cycle used in quality management plans (PMI, 2017). The ACFT events for testing were planned and executed by the units selected to take the new “The Army views projects as missions and analyzes former processes to evaluate its relevance as a world demanding warfare evolves. “

fitness test. The results were then checked and grading scales readjusted to act as improvements. Also, recent data has shown interest that the combat arms occupations among female soldiers has far exceeded the Army’s expectations; as of this year, more than 600 women have been recruited for or transferred to combat occupations, and 12 women have graduated from Ranger School. In order for the Army to allow all leadership positions to be open to both men and women, they needed to ensure all branches were open to both genders. This diversified the potentiality of leadership, command, and promotion. The ACFT was formed to introduce change to the organization through a mission project to transform ideas around combat readiness through fitness. The ACFT mission changed the scope of fitness standards permissible to command in the Army. It changed the budget with new equipment for ACFT events, and the schedule with a time constraint to train and pass the ACFT or face career consequences. Lastly, it changed the quality requirements for leaders who want to command combat units (PMI, 2017). The Army needed to establish gender-neutral testing to determine the capability of a recruit before allowing them to enter a specific physically challenging branch of service. Initial data has shown that these new implementations have not been in favor of female recruits. However, it does suggest it does suggest that it helps the Army to get the right recruits in the right professions. It also allows younger generations of women currently serving to be recommended for command in branches where they are capable of mission success. Whether or not this will prove to be another obstacle to women serving in coveted leadership positions remains to be seen but initial data suggests that although the opportunity is there, missions may be hindered due to new standards.

References: Brook, T. V., & Michaels, J. (2013, January 24). Officials: Panetta Opens Combat Roles to Women. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/23/ panetta-women-combat-pentagon/1859221

Brown, D. (2019, October 9). Army Combat Fitness Test Fiasco! Slides Reveal 84% of Women Failing ACFT. Retrieved from https://news.clearancejobs.com/2019/10/05/armycombat-fitness-test-fiasco-slides-reveal-84-of-women-failing-acft

Buckner, K. (2019, October 9). What the Critics Miss: The Army Combat Fitness Test is Going to Make Us a More Combat-Ready Force. Retrieved from https://mwi.usma.edu/ critics-miss-army-combat-fitness-test-going-make-us-combat-ready-force

Martin, R. (2011, February 25). A Lonely Club For Women In Top Army Jobs. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134025084/a-lonely-club-for-women-in-toparmy-job

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). 6th ed. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc.

Sharp, M. A., Foulis, S. A., & Redmond, J. E. (2018, June 4). Longitudinal Validation of the Occupational Physical Assessment Test. Retrieved from https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/ fulltext/u2/1057800.pdf

Sutton, Brian. (2017). Army Implements New Fitness Standards. Retrieved from: http:// ftmeadesoundoff.com/communitynews/news/army-implements-new-fitness-standards/