Female soldiers allowed to fight on the front line and join SAS
WOMEN can apply to join the SAS for the first time, after all roles in the Armed Forces were opened up to female recruits.
Confirming that female soldiers are now eligible to serve in special forces units, Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said that for the first time the “Armed Forces will be determined by ability alone and not gender”.
Speaking during a firepower demonstration carried out yesterday on Salisbury Plain, Mr Williamson said that women already serving in the Army would able to transfer into infantry roles if they wished, while new recruits would be able to apply for infantry roles in December.
He said that “every single role in our Armed Forces will be open to women” and he expected to see women applying for roles with the SAS and other special forces units.
“I am delighted that from today, for the first time in its history, our Armed Forces will be determined by ability alone and not gender,” he said.
A ban on female soldiers serving in close combat units, including the Royal Armoured Corps, was lifted in 2016, but women were not allowed to serve in front-line infantry units where they would be expected to “close and kill the enemy”. Now, female soldiers will be able to serve in front-line infantry units, and an Army source told The Daily Telegraph that senior officers expected them to be serving with the SAS and other elite formations within 12 months, while new female infantry recruits would be eligible to take the arduous SAS selection after three years of service.
All female soldiers will have to pass the same physical fitness tests as men.
Defence analysts have broadly welcomed the move, saying that the traditional understanding of the “front line” has become outdated. They point to the fact that female helicopter pilots, intelligence specialists, medics, drivers and linguists operated alongside male infantrymen throughout Britain’s recent campaigns. However, retired officer Colonel Richard Kemp said the new policy would “cost lives” as it would “lead to divisiveness” and undermine teamwork.
Trooper Kat Dixon, 28, who became the first female gunner of a main battle tank after that role became open to women last year, said: “Female soldiers are already here, and my gender hasn’t posed a challenge because if you meet the requirements there isn’t a role that is off limits.”
Asked for her response to those critical of women in the military, Trooper Dixon, who serves with the Royal Welsh Yeomanry, said: “I wouldn’t say anything to them, I’d just prove them wrong.”