Historically, there has been much debate about women serving in military and combat roles. The level of that debate increased when the United States armed forces were mobilized after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in August, 1990. As the country watched, 33,000 women were among the 537,000 U.S. troops sent to Saudi Arabia. Women constituted 11 percent of the total active duty military and 13 percent of the reservists of all military personnel. They operated in key combat support positions in the largest U.S. military action since the Vietnam War. The contributions of these soldiers enabled women to gain greater acceptance and to make inroads in the military service.
Women’s assistance in the Gulf War operations of Desert Shield and Desert Storm led to legislation allowing female pilots to fly combat missions.
Historically, there has been much debate about women serving in military and combat roles. The level of that debate increased when the United States armed forces were mobilized after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in August, 1990. As the country watched, 33,000 women were among the 537,000 U.S. troops sent to Saudi Arabia. Women constituted 11 percent of the total active duty military and 13 percent of the reservists of all military personnel. They operated in key combat support positions in the largest U.S. military action since the Vietnam War. The contributions of these soldiers enabled women to gain greater acceptance and to make inroads in the military service.
Women were responsible for many of the same jobs as men in the Gulf War. Their duties brought them close to combat zones, where they directed artillery, fired Patriot missiles to intercept incoming Scud missiles, constructed buildings, flew airplanes, and refueled tanks. For the first time, American women flew helicopters over battle zones, carrying more than two thousand men and supplies into enemy territory. Women repaired tactical satellite communications systems and battlefield radios and were visible in all phases of the conflict, from operating high-tech equipment to repairing tanks and earth-moving equipment to commanding brigades and platoons.
Each branch of the service interpreted the ban on women in combat in its own way. The Army had the greatest number of military women. Many Army commanders ignored normal procedure and assigned tasks without regard to gender. Others took capable women out of their normal positions, interpreting the Direct Combat Probability Coding (DCPC) system by their own standards. Women were often close to combat areas simply because front lines shifted constantly. In the Air Force, women were in danger of being struck by Iraqi Scud missiles as they serviced and armed combat aircraft. Navy women were kept from combat areas, as they were not given any offshore carrier assignments.
The controversies regarding gender were largely put aside as men and women treated one another with mutual respect amid the hardships of the desert. Critics claimed that there would be sexual tension among men and women, but such fears proved unwarranted as the sexes shared tents and duties without noticeable friction. In addition to the pressures of combat, both male and female soldiers had to adhere to the strict customs of Muslim culture. For women, these customs were more stringent. When leaving their military compounds, they had to be escorted by men, keeping their heads covered and their eyes lowered, and they could not drive vehicles or wear shorts.
One of the first American Army helicopter pilots to fly into a combat zone, Major Marie T. Rossi, a commander of B Company, 18th Army Aviation Brigade, appeared on national television shortly before she died when her chopper hit a tower. She had carried troops, supplies, ammunition, and fuel and had encountered hostile fire, but ironically her death came a day after a cease-fire had begun. Rossi became a symbol of heroism for American women.
African American women played an important role in the Gulf War, risking their lives with fellow military personnel. Captain Cynthia Mosley, a commander of Alpha Company, received a bronze star for combat service. Commanding a one hundred-person unit that was close to the front lines, Mosley and her company were responsible for supplying troops with fuel, water, and ammunition.
Lieutenant Phoebe Jeter was another of the thousands of African American women who served with distinction during Desert Storm. In charge of the control center that deployed Patriot missiles, Jeter headed an all-male platoon that destroyed at least two Scud missiles. She became the first and only woman to shoot down a Scud.
A total of thirteen women died during the Gulf War. The war claimed the lives of the first enlisted women to be killed in action during a Scud missile attack. In addition, Major Rhonda Cornum, a flight surgeon, and Army truck driver Melissa Rathbun-Nealy were captured by the Iraqis, and both received purple hearts on their release.
The questions concerning women’s role in the military and whether they should be drafted was argued during the ratification drive for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). In May, 1991, Representatives Patricia Schroeder and Beverly Bryon introduced a measure to rescind the ban on women flying combat missions. Despite a proposal by the Senate Armed Services Committee to study the measure, it passed both the House and the Senate. The Senate also included an addendum that provided an option for the defense secretary to waive other combat exclusions as well. In 1993, Defense Secretary Les Aspin stated that although women were still excluded from actual ground combat, they would now be allowed to serve as combat pilots and aboard combat ships. The favorable public opinion about the women’s role in the Gulf War helped lead to this decision.
Other debates affected women in the Gulf War. Headlines and newspaper photographs depicted mothers leaving behind their children as they were sent to war. Emphasizing such role reversal, the press popularized Operation Desert Storm as the “Mommy War.”
When President George Bush announced the start of an air war against Iraq in January, 1991, he referred to the military troops that he was sending into Saudi Arabia as “our sons and daughters.” The Gulf War narrowed the divisions between men and women in the armed forces, placing them all in the category of service personnel, not servicemen or servicewomen.
Prior to Desert Storm, women had been unable to gain significant ground in their struggle to be accepted as part of the military. Their contributions in the invasions of Grenada and Panama had been downplayed. The performance of women in the Gulf War enabled all female soldiers to gain new respect because it showed that women were as capable as men in the completion of military duties. While the war opened the door for women as combat pilots, however, women in ground troops continued the fight for the right to engage in combat. Without full recognition as members of combat units, women could not hope to break through the military’s glass ceiling to advance in rank and position.