Word: combatting
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Army regulations exclude women from combat duty, but that rule was stretched when 771 female soldiers took part in the invasion of Panama, including several MPs who were involved in firefights. One officer, Captain Linda Bray, directed her platoon against a Panamanian garrison at an attack-dog kennel. Though no Panamanians were killed, as was originally reported, shots were exchanged...
...Bray, 29, of Butner, N.C. Bray, one of 771 Army women who took part in the Panama operation, had added a page to the annals of American warfare: for the first time women, who compose almost 11% of the U.S. armed forces, had engaged hostile troops in modern combat.* Though doubts arose over whether Bray's platoon had actually killed any enemy soldiers, her exploits rekindled a debate over whether women should be on the firing line...
American women are excluded by law and regulation from assignment to units, such as infantry, armor and artillery, that are likely to be engaged in combat. But Panama demonstrated how such distinctions blur when the shooting starts. Colorado Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder argued last week that "once you no longer have a definable front, it's impossible to separate combat from noncombat. The women carried M-16s, not dog biscuits...
...greater barrier to a combat role for women is public sensitivity to possible female casualties. Yet the military knows the combat exclusion is artificial protection. "The critical point," Army spokeswoman Paige Eversole said last week, "is that these women were trained for whatever contingency they encountered. They could and did fire their weapons where necessary. In war," she added, "we expect women to be casualties in direct proportion to the numbers in which they serve...
After the eleven-day standoff outside the Vatican embassy in Panama City, Noriega's surrender to American authorities, which George Bush had defined as a chief goal of the invasion of Panama, triumphantly clinched the gamble the President took by ordering U.S. troops into combat. With Noriega in handcuffs, Panamanians celebrating in the streets and U.S. casualties relatively low, Republican Party chairman Lee Atwater probably had it right when he called the outcome a political jackpot for Bush...