Army to train more female combat officers
WASHINGTON — As more female soldiers move into frontline combat jobs, the Army’s top leaders have decided to integrate female officers into infantry and armor brigades at three more military bases around the country.
The decision comes a year after the first women began enlisting in the ground combat units, and it will send female officers to Fort Carson in Colorado, Fort Campbell in Kentucky, and Fort Bliss in Texas. The increase — from two bases now to five — means that there will be women in infantry and armor units at 45 percent of the Army installations that have combat brigades. Until now, the integrated units were only at Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
The expansion has been in the works for months, as Army commanders tracked how many female enlisted soldiers and officers chose the newly opened infantry and armor jobs. The numbers so far have revealed an unexpected trend: more entry-level female recruits are choosing the infantry, while female officers coming out of ROTC, West Point and the Army’s Officer Candidate School are choosing armor units.
Army Col. Mike Lawhorn, spokesman for U.S. Army Forces Command, said under the new plan, female soldiers would be included in one or two brigades at each base. But the uneven numbers of women choosing the combat jobs could result in female armor officers commanding units that have no women in them.
Over the next year, as more women enlist and graduate as officers, brigades at more bases will be integrated, according to an Army plan. According to the Army plan, women infantry and armor soldiers will be assigned to brigades at all bases in the continental United States by fall 2019.
Lolita C. Baldor is an Associated Press writer.