FED:Women already on frontline: Snowdon

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2011
FED:Women already on frontline: Snowdon

By Lloyd Jones and Andrea Hayward

CANBERRA, April 13 AAP - Defence Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon doesn't think women
will be queuing up to join the infantry but says it's important to remember they are already
serving on the frontline.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith announced on Monday the federal government would hasten
the process to allow women to serve in combat roles as part of a shake-up of the Australian
Defence Force (ADF) and its attitude to women.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has backed the move, but Mr Snowdon doesn't believe there
will be an "avalanche" of women "running in to join the infantry".

"I think experience elsewhere has shown that there's been an initial spurt and then
it just goes off to a normal curve," Mr Snowdon told reporters in Perth.

Australian women were already serving in frontline roles in Afghanistan, he said.

"They may not be the warrior, in terms of carrying the weapon out on an infantry patrol,
but they have weapons and they're on the outside of the wire doing particular jobs," Mr
Snowdon said.

"They are just as exposed to the enemy."

A female soldier who joined the Army in 1995 and served in aviation roles supporting
the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) and commando troops before discharging in 2009
disagrees with women taking on combat roles.

Asked if she supported the move, she said: "No, definitely not."

"I think women want to go into combat roles to prove a point but whether they have
the fitness, ability, knowledge and skill really to get them there, I doubt it," she told
AAP.

"There's a lot to learn, you can't just learn to be an infantry soldier and you can't
just be an SAS soldier."

Special forces soldiers go weeks without a shower when they go into combat.

The situation is just not suitable for a woman, the former soldier, who declined to
be named, said.

"It's very unhygienic, you can't just put deodorant on or take your girly wipes with
you," she said.

There would possibly be more casualties as male soldiers sought to protect their female
colleagues on the frontline, the soldier said.

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation had for some time been testing what
the physical standards should be for particular jobs.

"That will tell us what the attributes are to do the job and people who meet those
attributes can get the job, regardless of their sex," Mr Snowdon said.

The transition would have to be managed very carefully and sections of the community,
such as some RSL members, would oppose it, he said.

"I think they've got to come to terms with the fact that at this time in our history
women have a right to expect to be treated equally, and they should be given that opportunity,"

he said.

Mr Snowdon said he did not think servicemen would put obstacles in the way of women
who took up combat roles.

AAP ah/mp/nb

KEYWORD: DEFENCE WRAP

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.