The EFCP (Evaluation of Female Combat Personnel) Program

[natehale1971]

Hi everyone,

I need a little help writing an article... and i'm having a severe case of writers block/brain fart. Thus I'm asking for all of your help in writing this article for my Twilight 2000 campaign.

The EFCP (Evaluation of Female Combat Personnel) Program:

The Evaluation of Female Combat Personnel Program was the pet project of SEN Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and a coalition of Congresswomen in the House of Representatives that would allow for women to be allowed in the combat arms of the Armed Forces that lasted from 2001-2004. While there were some cases of problems with the Program, it for the most part showed that women could operate in combat positions.

The legislation that was passed that allowed women in combat positions also opened the Draft to women, the debate on this was heated and fell along party lines. But in the end, the entire legislation package was passed with the slogan "Equal Rights, Equal Risks" that was used by both supporters and detractors.

Despite allowing women in combat roles, there were several career fields (such as Infantry) that were not opened to women until the height of the Twilight War forced a change with the growing need for manpower.

[helbent4]

Nate,

An interesting proposition. Also, this kind of program or one like it would serve in the canon timeline, too, as women are obviously accepted into combat roles during the Twilight War in some capacity.

That said, what is the context of the article That is, is it written as flavour text for your players Do you have a particular "voice" in mind

Tony

[natehale1971]

Nate,

An interesting proposition. Also, this kind of program or one like it would serve in the canon timeline, too, as women are obviously accepted into combat roles during the Twilight War in some capacity.

That said, what is the context of the article That is, is it written as flavour text for your players Do you have a particular "voice" in mind

Tony

Very much Flavor text... it's to be one of the articles on the Wiki that i've been working on. I am hoping to make it as an informative article with a voice of someone looking on it as neither a good or bad thing. But something that happened that changed American society and culture. Especially with the Draft actually becoming universal across the board. With only health being a way of getting out of the draft... not money and college deferments only work if you're willing to become an officer after graduation.

[helbent4]

Nate,

You could take a "future omnipotent" view, where the hypothetical author is some kind of scholar detailing an important turning point in the US military.

Describe the program, give dates and examples as necessary. For example, "Bobbi Jo" from the yellow book, and Capt. Warren from "Madonna". Maybe relate this to similar changes in other western military forces.

Note any problems. In Canada, female soldiers have been allowed in all combat roles since 1990. The major problem is attracting women to choose and stay in combat roles. Also, sexual harassment is still an issue, although not necessarily at different rates than before gender integration.

To be honest, what you put seems good enough. Add some examples, hypothetical NPCs from your own game, perhaps, and you should be good to go.

Tony

[natehale1971]

Thats what i was thinking of doing.. I don't have the experience to write it though. I've been out of the Navy since 1993, and while i was in... the female personnel i had to work with USED the fact they were women to get what they wanted. and i got to deal with alot of reverse racism and sexism my last year and half in.

I also had to deal with a female that had been assigned to work with me who had caused all kinds of problems in her 2 years in the navy, she was always making sexual harassment complaints to get ahead until she was working with me and another sailor. when he told her she didn't do the job right, she went straight to the commander and accused him of sexual harassment.

the commander called the Command Senior Chief & the first lieutenant (our supervisors), his exec assistant, him and me into the office and started an improvised little captains mass.

He looked at everyone and then at the man she had accused of sexually haraassing her of all the people in the room (two attractive women, me, the senior chief and my co-worker). he looked around and then at me and said "Spake here is my kind of man." to which i answered "I'm very flattered, but I don't swing that way." and he said "I know, you're so painfully straight it hurts."

The commander dismissed all the enlisted except her, and called the Master-at-Arms and NIS agent in. let's just say her court marital was swift and only ended with her being hussled out of the navy and the lives of the men she ruined was attempted to be put back together again.

I was able to write the basic fluff, but i wasn't able to come up with how it would best be described.

everyone on this forum is welcomed to join and help with all the stuff for the game. especially those who want to play in the campaign i'm putting together.

[Abbott Shaull]

Honestly being through Infantry School at Benning in 1988 and then going to Airborne School afterward the attitude of thing had only start change there.

The views were completely different, there were chants Airborne Schools that while using the towers that we had taught us, but we weren't allow to using depending on which Instructors were work and who was working in your team during training.

While at Basic/AIT, they still weren't trying to hard to be PC unless we were in the Barracks or going to the mini-PX. Lord the recruit who didn't hold their tongue while they were in the PX or the Chow line...

[helbent4]

I was able to write the basic fluff, but i wasn't able to come up with how it would best be described.

everyone on this forum is welcomed to join and help with all the stuff for the game. especially those who want to play in the campaign i'm putting together.

Nate,

Women in the military is obviously an emotionally-charged subject, there are plenty of anecdotes of abuse of the system by women. If I had to guess, I would say that any replacements at that part of the war would be welcome. There will be some problems, although if the program was a success then it should be portrayed as such.

The EFCP (Evaluation of Female Combat Personnel) Program:

The Evaluation of Female Combat Personnel Program was the pet project of SEN Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and a coalition of Congresswomen in the House of Representatives that would allow for women to be allowed in the combat arms of the Armed Forces that lasted from 2001-2004. While there were some cases of problems with the Program, it for the most part showed that women could operate in combat positions.

The legislation that was passed that allowed women in combat positions also opened the Draft to women, the debate on this was heated and fell along party lines. But in the end, the entire legislation package was passed with the slogan "Equal Rights, Equal Risks" that was used by both supporters and detractors.

Despite allowing women in combat roles, there were several career fields (such as Infantry) that were not opened to women until the height of the Twilight War forced a change with the growing need for manpower.

The program was judged an overall success due to the accessibility of a large number of educated and highly-motivated recruits. The introduction of women into combat units in the middle phases of the Twilight War did not greatly affect overall unit cohesion because attrition had made almost any replacements welcome, with the source being judged as unimportant in most circumstances. (Certainly, the EFCP proved far less problematical than the "Moral Waiver" program, which saw the almost wholesale recruitment of former convicted felons, a wide segment of the prison population and suspected urban gang members into military service.)

Tony

[natehale1971]

Tony,

I really liked the fluff you added! Espeically the "Moral Waiver" Program... that sounds like it might make a good article of it's own. Especially if the successes of the program came from non-violent and white collar criminals who jumped at the chance of a 'clean slate' in exchange for serving in the armed forces. Though I think those personnel would find themselves assigned to the logistics and combat support arms instead of the combat arms.

[waiting4something]

I think women being accepted into combat roles is right around the corner in the U.S.A. The Marines have something called female engagement teams that go out on patrols. I guess this evolution is just natural. Like with females becoming police officers. They can do stuff to the bad girls us guys can't.

[Mohoender]

Sorry I might be a little off-topic

Women issues have come up regularly and I realize while I was reading you that in T2K the situation could be very different from one beliigerent to the other.

Women would be rarely accepted into combat position in Western Armies. Not at all in the German Army, I doubt it for UK and France (at the time) but may be more involved in Scandinavian countries (I leave that to our well involved scandinavian friends). A major exception could be Turkey which was the first country to have had a women fighter pilot.

Fully accepted in the IDF, Middle-East could be interesting depending on the country and leader. Libya could accept them but I doubt that it will be the case in most other countries. Polisario and touaregs will fully use them.

Fully accepted among most Warsaw Pact/Eastern European countries (especially Soviet Union) as tank/vehicle crews, pilots, snipers, air defense, partisans, artillery and machinegun crews (much like in WW2).

Probably well involved in chinese/Asian militias.

Just some thoughts

[helbent4]

Not at all in the German Army.

Just some thoughts

Mohender.

You should call the Bundeswehr right now and tell them they can not have women in combat roles like they have been allowing since 2001! I'm sure they will be very embarrassed to find out they've been doing it all wrong. For the purpose of T2K, it's probably close enough to allow in the alternative timeline, especially given Germany's problems, but it's a matter of opinion.

Besides, this is all very much besides the point. This thread is about an article relates specifically about the US Army, which will allow women in combat positions in T2K, whether anyone likes it or not. The attempt is to find a rationale and flesh it out.

Your points are well taken. That said, there is a whole other thread for general opinions about women in combat.

Tony

[Tegyrius]

The Committee on Women in NATO Forces used to publish an annual report on gender integration in each member nation's military. The most recent I could find with a quick Google search (caffeine hasn't taken hold yet) was 2004's:

http://www.nato.int/ims/2004/win/03-index.htm

It looks like that working group may have been replaced by the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives:

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_50327.htm

Yes, I know the thread's specific to American forces, but looking at some of our NATO partners might provide some insight into how such integration would proceed here if sufficient political pressure mandated it.

- C.

[Mohoender]

Mohender.

You should call the Bundeswehr right now and tell them they can not have women in combat roles like they have been allowing since 2001!

Tony

I was only talking of T2K, at least 10 years before that date. By 1989-1991, few western armies had fully cross the line and in the middle of the war, I doubt that they would cross it (It seems that outside Scandinavia, Canada is a serious exception). If you play v.1, it's even less plausible.

IMO most fighting women would be in that position because they were there to fill in the depleted ranks. You could have had some women in combat at the time of T2K but not that many.

The reason, I have Warsaw Pact or IDF acting the other way is simply because they had done so in the past.

One last thing, about Germany, it seems that they effectively think that it is a bad idea. They indeed allowed women into combat role after 2001 but only after a ruling by the European Court of Justice. Not really a voluntary posture.

And this idea doesn't reflect my opinion on women capabilities.

[Mohoender]

Thanks Tegiryus

Very interesting, didn't know about this.

[helbent4]

And this idea doesn't reflect my opinion on women capabilities.

Mohoender,

Agreed, and please accept my apologies for any sarcasm. It was meant somewhat in jest, but we must be careful about opening any cans of worms, too.

As for Germany, in either the v1 or v2 timeline they started the European phase of the war in 1996 for what are nationalist reasons. It's not hard to see that at that time a similar court judgment could have been handed down a few years early during the time of patriotic fervor, nationalist feeling and the buildup to war.

At any rate, let's not lose focus here on the EFCP:

(Continued.)

The EFCP was successful enough that similar programs were adopted in West Germany/the newly unified FRG (depending on the timeline) and other NATO allies.

The EFCP was not without its problems. The reality of combat in the front lines meant that the program couldn't always be adequately monitored, even when there were resources to do so. Such radical-seeming changes went against centuries of US military tradition and a highly masculine sub-culture, although most objections were overcome in through by simple necessity. Some elements never did accept the change wholeheartedly, and concerns over issues like reverse-discrimination and the lowering of crucial standards could not always be dismissed out of hand. Nevertheless, it can't be ignored that the inclusion of women in universal service (the draft) and on the front lines through the EFCP provided a much-needed boost to critical personnel at a crucial time.

More seriously, it could be argued that the same alteration (some might say lowering) of accepted standards allowed less-desirable elements into the US military. The greater inclusion of women into the military and further into front-line combat collided with the influx of a core hardened criminal element that had been accepted into military service for one reason or another.

It is impossible to determine statistics but it's possible that as many as 20-25% or more of inductees in 1997 and after in the US military had some kind of criminal record, up to and including felony convictions such as theft, violent assault, drug charges, even murder and sexual assault. Gang membership in the military far exceeded that of the general population. The means to conduct extensive background checks on recruits simply no longer existed in most areas, and what capacity to do so was overwhelmed after the adoption of universal compulsory military service.

Further, a considerable portion of the corrections population was conscripted into military service, and not without a certain kind of logic. Namely, there was little means or political will to continue feeding them. Letting criminals fulfill their debt to society by serving in uniform has a long historical precedent. While many acquitted themselves admirably (so to speak), others did not and criminal activity such as drug trafficking, black market activity and arms dealing flourished despite increasingly harsh measures. The relaxation of supervision and eventual breakdown in morale and disciple put the large influx of female conscripts squarely on a collision course with various former and current criminal elements, especially those with a history of violence or sexual assault against women. Interestingly, women serving in combat units through the EFCP experienced lower level of sexual harassment and sexual assault (rape), but few were completely immune.

Eventually, many criminal-soldiers (from almost all nations) put their training and weapons to personal and illegal use, commonly forming the core of the gangs that were called "Marauders" during the Twilight War. In the USA, a few that chose to remain in military service during the latter stages of the war sided with the federal government but many remained chose to back MILGOV for different reasons, mainly due to a lack of loyalty to civil society in general.

Tony