Marine Corps Study Finds No Detriment to Morale in Mixed-Gender Combat Units
By DAVE PHILIPPS

The Marine Corps has long held concerns that integrating women into combat units could erode morale in all-male platoons and lead to increased sexual tension that would undermine fighting capability. But a Marine Corps study made public by a women’s advocacy group this week found that after months of testing mixed-gender combat units, troops reported morale equal to that of all-male groups and higher than noncombat integrated groups.

In addition, the study found sexual assault levels no higher than in the Marines as a whole.

Men and women in a test group of about 400 Marines “feel a strong sense of belonging to the military, even more so when compared to other Marines of the operating forces,” the study found.

The 1,000-page study, known as the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, was prompted by a mandate from the Obama administration to integrate women into all combat jobs by 2016 or justify exemptions.

In September, the Marine Corps released a four-page summary of the study that said female Marines were slower, less accurate with weapons and had more injuries than men.

About 300 additional pages were released this week without the permission of the Marine Corps by Women in International Security — a group that is an advocate for women in combat roles and was leaked the documents. The additional pages suggested that although women were not as physically strong, on average, as men, the Marine Corps could successfully integrate women by setting clear standards.

“There has been this band of brothers idea that there is something special about having only men, and adding women will ruin it,” said Ellen Haring, a senior fellow at the advocacy group and a reserve Army colonel. “The study doesn’t bear that out.”

When told by the Department of Defense in 2013 to integrate combat forces by 2016, other military branches responded by analyzing combat specialties to create gender-neutral standards based on the physical demands of the job. If a woman could meet the standards, she could serve in the position. The Army, Air Force and Navy have not indicated that they will ask for exemptions.

But the Marine Corps, with a 93 percent male force dominated by infantry members who carry heavy loads and live in spartan conditions, had a harder task.

A military official with knowledge of the decision who was not authorized to speak for the Marines said the former commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who now heads the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended exempting women from the infantry. The Marine Corps declined to comment.

The Corps approached the question of integration differently from other branches. It commissioned the nine-month ground combat study that put 300 men and 100 women in teams that performed combat skills ranging from shooting to hiking and climbing walls.

“Instead of seeing if women could meet standards, they essentially set up a race to see who was better,” Ms. Haring said.

The study found all-male units overwhelmingly outperformed integrated units in physical tasks — particularly tasks requiring upper body strength, such as evacuating an injured Marine from a turret or throwing a backpack onto a wall. But, the report said, integrated groups excelled at complex decision-making. It also concluded that adding women to all-male groups would probably improve the behavior of the groups as a whole.

“Integration of females is likely to lower the instance of disciplinary action, and this has been shown in general across the Marine Corps,” the report said.

During the months women and men were in proximity, the task force recorded seven sexual assaults. Only one was formally reported. The numbers, the report said, were not significantly different from those of other units.

“There are no indications that rates of sexual harassment and sexual assault will rise following gender integration,” the report concluded.

Brig. Gen. George W. Smith Jr., director of the Marine Corps Force Innovation Office, sounded a note of caution in the memorandum he submitted with the study findings, saying diluting strength in pursuit of inclusion was “a prescription for failure.”

“Our future enemies will be the ultimate arbiter of such decisions — when lives of our Marines are in the balance. Those who choose to turn a blind eye to those immutable realities do so at the expense of our Corps’ war-fighting capability.”

調查：娘子軍進陸戰隊 全隊更帶勁

美國陸戰隊對於五角大廈解除女性參與戰鬥任務的禁令一直有異議，擔心會打擊士氣、影響戰力，但女權團體十五日公布的陸戰隊調查報告內容顯示，讓女性加入戰鬥部隊並不會影響士氣。

紐約時報報導，五角大廈前年撤消禁止女性參與戰鬥任務的規定，若無特別豁免事由，將於明年全面實施。男性占九成三的陸戰隊向來反對開放性別全面作戰，並為此進行耗資三千六百萬美元、歷時九個月的研究。長達一千頁的報告指出，以三百名男性和一百名女性陸戰隊員為對象所做研究顯示，這些男女隊員對陸戰隊的向心力很強，甚至比陸戰隊其他部隊還強。男女都有的陸戰隊戰鬥部隊士氣與全男性戰鬥部隊不分軒輊，而且高過男女都有的非戰鬥部隊。

陸戰隊九月時公布這份研究的四頁摘要，指出女性隊員動作較慢、使用武器精確度較低，也更容易受傷。不過，提倡女性戰鬥角色的組織「女性參與國際安全」（Women in International Security, WIIS）未獲陸戰隊許可，逕自披露的另外三百頁報告內容指出，女性平均而言雖不如男性強壯，但在設定明確的標準之後，陸戰隊還是能成功的讓女性融入戰鬥角色。

WIIS資深研究員、陸軍備役上校哈林說：「過去一直有這種哥兒們的思想，認為純男性有某種特質，若女性加入會毀了它。但研究結果並不支持這項論點。」

陸戰隊匿名官員透露，曾任陸戰隊司令的參謀首長聯席會議主席鄧福德過去反對女性參與戰鬥任務。紐時記者就此向陸戰隊查證，未獲回應。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/us/marine-corps-study-finds-no-detriment-to-morale-in-mixed-gender-combat-units.html

2015-10-17．聯合報．A17．國際．編譯陳韻涵