Women May Fight: Outgoing Army Chief

3 July 2008

RETIRING army chief Peter Leahy says he can see the day when women who are physically strong enough could serve in front-line combat roles.

Lieutenant-General Leahy said he would support a move to replace eventually the present male/female divide with a physical standard that let women strong enough to carry the equipment and fight join as combat infantry.

Women now serve in front-line infantry units as drivers, clerks and communications specialists but not as primary fighting troops. They also serve in dangerous roles in helicopter and fast jet aircrews and in boarding parties on warships in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.

General Leahy said that on his travels through Middle-East operational areas he had raised the issue with many women soldiers and had not come across any in a rush to get into combat.

He said most women did not have the physical strength to play in top-level sports teams such as the Wallabies or for Carlton or Essendon - and neither could some men. "We need to be fairly clinical. If you want to be in the infantry and you want to be fighting in combat, you better be able to carry a heavy pack long distance and perform at the end."

General Leahy said some women could do that. "But I think right now they are busy getting ready to go to Beijing for the Olympics," he said. "To me, it's logical that if you have a job, you have to be able to perform it physically, particularly in something like the army."

Women were now serving fantastically well in support roles inside combat units and that seemed about right, he said.

Women make up about 13% of permanent defence personnel.

General Leahy leaves the army tonight after serving for 37 years. He said soldiers needed much more than military skills to prepare them for modern battlefields. That involved "preparing our soldiers for the new battlefield, a battlefield which is much more about being among population where we protect and support and persuade, where you need to understand culture and anthropology", he said.

? The Minister for Defence Personnel, Warren Snowdon, has announced that the company Manpower has lost the contract for defence recruiting that it has held since 2003. The contract, worth $404 million over five years, had gone to Chandler Macleod, he said. -- With AAP


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