Scots lead on combat-role women

Regiment will be first to offer new frontline places after rule change

AN Army regiment based in Scotland will be the first in the UK to offer frontline close combat roles to women.

The Edinburgh-based Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry (SNIY) will make the new positions available from November, following the announcement earlier this month that a ban would be lifted.

The Army will review the new SNIY frontline troops after six months before rolling the offer out across the Royal Armed Corps, of which the regiment forms part.

The change will apply to infantry, Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force Regiment by the endof2018.

Women will be able to take up previously prohibited roles in the armoured corps, cavalry and infantry.

An Army spokesman said: “This move by the MoD to allow women to apply for employment in all jobs in the British Army – and Royal Marines and RAF Regiment – means that we are able to maximise talent and choice, both for women who already serve and new applicants.

“The fact that we have a brand new regiment in Scotland and Northern Ireland, The Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry – an army reserve unit which is part of the Royal Armoured Corps – which can start implementing this new policy from November is excellent.

“We always strive to be at the cutting edge of training and will be able to offer young men, and now young women, a chance to train for and to serve in exciting and varied roles.”

The lifting of the ban comes after a Government review looking at whether women were able to meet the physical demands of the role, including carrying heavy loads over long distances.

The basic fitness test for the infantry involves recruits completing an eight-mile march in under two hours while carrying a backpack weighing 55lbs (25kg).

There is also an advanced fitness test of marching two miles carrying 20kg in 18 minutes, and a further two-part test of 20 miles carrying 25kg in five hours, followed by 25kg over 25 miles in six hours and 15 minutes the following day.

Despite the review recommending the ban be removed, the Army’s own research suggests fewer than five per cent of its 7,000 women would pass the current infantry fitness test.

The change has provoked mixed reactions, with Major Judith Webb, who was the first woman to lead an all-male field force unit, critical of the move.

She said: “We are physically different. Why isn’t Andy Murray playing Serena Williams in open competition at Wimbledon?

“She’d probably give him a good run for his money, but the point about it is that what’s wrong with accepting that we’re different? I just feel the physical demands of infantry soldiering are not for women.”

However, SNIY’s commanding officer, Lt Col James CampbellBarnard, claimed that anyone able to meet the standards should be allowed to serve on the front line.

He said: “This is the last cog in the wheel in terms of opening all roles up to all parts of society and we want to maximise the talent within society and that goes for both males and females.

“They have proved their worth in combat over the last decade in Iraq and Afghanistan – they have been right up at the front line.

“We are convinced they can do the roles.”

We are physically different. Why isn’t Andy Murray playing Serena Williams at Wimbledon?