www.dailymail.co.uk Fighting goes on in Syria. After the army secured the area around the city of Aleppo's airport and retook a strategically important base nearby, a jihadist rebel group affiliated to al-Qaeda has joined calls for a mass mobilization to halt a government advance.
The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011. These include women and children. More than 2.2 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries while an estimated 4.25 million have been displaced internally.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has recruited an army of 500 women to guard checkpoints and carry out security checks in an attempt to plug the holes left by defections and casualties in his dwindling army. The new paramilitary force called the 'Lionesses for National Defense' has been trained at a boot camp in Wadi al-Dahab in the Syrian city of Homs.
Should the female gender play an active part in war?
The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011. These include women and children. More than 2.2 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries while an estimated 4.25 million have been displaced internally.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has recruited an army of 500 women to guard checkpoints and carry out security checks in an attempt to plug the holes left by defections and casualties in his dwindling army. The new paramilitary force called the 'Lionesses for National Defense' has been trained at a boot camp in Wadi al-Dahab in the Syrian city of Homs.
Should the female gender play an active part in war?
www.independent.co.uk Women fight in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Sweden all permit women in all combat units. France, Israel, and the Netherlands permit women in combat positions but they are barred from some units. The US and Brazil are currently looking at how to include women in combat positions, and Australia is already phasing them in. Many other countries including the UK send women to the front line in non-combat roles, or permit women to be fighter pilots
In the United States, there is a move to lift the ban on women assuming roles in frontline combat units. Under current rules, female soldiers, compromising of around nine per cent of the British armed forces, are not allowed to enter into situations where they could engage and potentially kill the enemy. In the Canadian armed forces, unusually, every job is open to women. Both sexes live and fight together.
Around 12% of soldiers serving in the Canadian army are women and they have been integrated into combat positions since 1989. Those who argue against putting women into battle sometimes say that a woman would not be able to carry a wounded fellow from the battlefield. But women are tested every year in soldier carry and soldier drag exercises, paired with someone of a similar weight. They lift bigger people using the fireman's carry.
In the United States, there is a move to lift the ban on women assuming roles in frontline combat units. Under current rules, female soldiers, compromising of around nine per cent of the British armed forces, are not allowed to enter into situations where they could engage and potentially kill the enemy. In the Canadian armed forces, unusually, every job is open to women. Both sexes live and fight together.
Around 12% of soldiers serving in the Canadian army are women and they have been integrated into combat positions since 1989. Those who argue against putting women into battle sometimes say that a woman would not be able to carry a wounded fellow from the battlefield. But women are tested every year in soldier carry and soldier drag exercises, paired with someone of a similar weight. They lift bigger people using the fireman's carry.
The only woman in a Canadian platoon of soldiers on the Afghan front line, Capt Ashley Collette was in charge. The traditional way to develop team cohesion is to train, eat and sleep as a unit. This presents some logistical challenges, but Collette took pains to be modest. While the men slept in boxer shorts, she would wear pajamas. When training in Canada, she would climb into a cupboard to change, or pull her sleeping bag around her and change underneath. In Afghanistan, she shared a room roughly 3m x 4.5m (10ft by 15ft) with up to 10 people.
She is passionate that people see her as a soldier, rather than a woman soldier and describes the whole debate about whether women can handle a combat job as null and void. After returning from her tour, she was awarded the Medal of Military Valour, one of Canada's highest military honors, for her leadership in Afghanistan.
She is passionate that people see her as a soldier, rather than a woman soldier and describes the whole debate about whether women can handle a combat job as null and void. After returning from her tour, she was awarded the Medal of Military Valour, one of Canada's highest military honors, for her leadership in Afghanistan.
During WWII , women of the Special Operations Executive did everything from spying, to sabotaging and gun fighting behind enemy lines. Now, Alesha Escobar has released the 3rd book of The Gray Tower Trilogy. Along with using espionage and fighting skills, the heroine must battle warlocks and vampires as well. You can visit the official blog tour page http://theministrytour.blogspot.com/
What are your views on women fighting on the front line?
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