Women in the Army Say They Don't Want to Fill Combat Positions

A very slight number of women in the Army say they want to engage in live combat, according to initial findings from a survey of nearly 170,000 soldiers.

The study, which was recently released by the Associated Press, showed that the small amount of women who would take one of the newly opened posts on the frontlines wanted to get right in the midst of battle.

Less than eight percent of United States Army women said they wanted to take up a position in combat, AP reported. But of that small group, a staggering amount of females said they wanted to be Night Stalkers - an elite special operations helicopter group.

The Night Stalkers crew is most notably recognized for transporting Navy SEALS to Osama bin Laden's headquarters three years ago.

The survey also showed that both men and women in the Army are hesitant to have females assume positions in combat, but aren't opposed to it. Women are reportedly concerned that others will see their gender as the main reason they've gotten the position, while men are afraid they'll start losing jobs to members of the other sex.

Overall, both genders agreed that Army standards shouldn't be compromised to try ushering in more women for certain posts.

Deputy chief of staff for operations at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command David Brinkley told the Associated Press that service members also stated physical standards shouldn't be lowered for these kinds of combat jobs.

"The men don't want to lower the standards because they see that as a perceived risk to their team," Brinkley said. "The women don't want to lower the standards because they want the men to know they're just as able as they are to do the same task."

For the survey, the Associated Press gave Army officials a series of questionnaires to administer to service members over the course of 2013. Soldiers active in duty and members of the Army National Guard answered the queries on gender integration, AP reported.

Focus groups and interviews then followed the question-and-answer portion.

Of the 30,000 women who responded to the questions, a mere 2,238 - 7.5 percent - said they wanted to fill positions as armor, artillery, infantry or combat engineering, according to AP.

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