Women in the US Military Speech or Presentation

Women in the US Military - Speech or Presentation Example Ever since, women have assumed powerful positions in the defense system of America. Women as nurses in military During the Spanish-American war conducted in 1898, thousands of American soldiers had yellow fever, typhoid, and malaria (â€Å"Highlights in the†). The Army Medical Department had to deal with too much with limited resources. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) were assigned the task of selecting qualified and professional nurses to serve the US Army upon the suggestion of Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee to the Army Surgeon General. Army hospitals appointed 1500 civilian contract nurses before the end of the war in different regions including Hawaii, the US, Guam, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Cuba, and the Hospital Ship Relief. Dr. McGee was made the Acting Assistant Surgeon General who was asked to write legislation for the establishment of a permanent nurses’ corpse in the US Army. Deployment of women in the combat zone The number of American women that partici pated in the First World War was over 35000 (â€Å"Early Women Soldiers†). As a result of war, American military forces saw a shortage of male recruits. That was when the US Navy and Marine Corps actively solicited women to serve in the combat troops in an attempt to fill up the gap. Thousands of women applied for the positions as Marine Corps Yeoman whereas the call of Navy to become Yeomanettes was responded to by over 11000 women (â€Å"Early Women Soldiers†). In 2013, long-stayed ban on the inclusion of women in the combat positions was lifted. Lifting of this ban can be attributed to the fact that women today are an integral part of the US military and have been showing their interest in undertaking physically demanding roles in military as tough as performance in the combat zone. Women in the American army have found themselves increasingly in the combat’s reality during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. â€Å"It's clear to all of us that women are contri buting in unprecedented ways to the military's mission of defending the nation†¦The fact is that American women are already serving in harm's way today all over the world and in every branch of our armed forces†¦Many have made the ultimate sacrifice, and our nation owes them a deep debt of gratitude† (Panetta cited in â€Å"Military leaders lift†). Timeline of women in military (â€Å"Timeline: Women in†) in DoSomething.org provides a detailed account of women in military through a timeline as shown below. 1846-1848 Elizabeth Newcom, a woman got enlisted in the Mexican-American war posing as a man. She covered a distance of 600 miles with the infantry before getting identified as a woman and being discharged for that. 1861-1865 Women nursed the soldiers that were wounded in the American Civil War, but still did not have military status. 1901 America established the Army Nurse Corps whereas the Navy Nurse Corps was established eight years after that. 191 7-1918 Armed forces started to consider assignment of administrative roles to the women like the roles of stenographers and operators. In addition to that, two women became members of the Coast Guard for the first time. 1941-1945 During the Second World War, armed forces finally enlisted and included women in almost every job which was not combat support or combat. June 12, 1948 The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was signed by President Truman. This Act established a permanent place for women in every branch of the military. As a result of this Act, military was made one of the first organizations to provide women with pay equal to the pay of men in all tasks assigned to the women employees. However, there was an upper limit to which women could be promoted in the military; lieutenant colonel was the