First FIeld Artillery Platoon Leader

[tomahawk6]

Being part of a gun crew seems to be pretty physical and I wonder if female's are up to it.On the other hand a female Platoon leader is doable.

http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140415/CAREERS/304150035/First-women-move-Army-platoon-artillery-jobs

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Under a canopy of trees on the edge of a large field, soldiers from Bravo Battery are lying in a circle as they pore over targeting charts. Nearby, others are preparing the howitzer cannons as helicopters swoop overhead. At the edge of the circle, the platoon leader watches as the field artillerymen go through their training exercise.

No one seems to notice the small knot of hair at the base of the lieutenant’s helmet, or that 1st Lt. Kelly Requa is the only woman on the field at Campbell’s Crossroads on the sprawling grounds of Fort Bragg.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

In the reserves we ran women on the gun and ammo parties with few issues, using 105mm's

 

[tomahawk6]

Interesting Colin.Its an experiment for us.

 

[Journeyman]

Women up here can vote now too.  :nod:


      ;D

 

[Colin Parkinson]

It's all in the women that you have and it's better to get the switched on ones to deal with the non-performing ones.

We have also suffered a female Artillery Officer killed in combat, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichola_Goddard

 

[Strike]

The only problem with having women in such a position is that, because there are so few of them, when you get a real plug it tends to paint the rest of them in a bad light.  You might also find that many of the women you do get tend to be high achievers, because of the belief they put on themselves that they have to work twice as hard for half the recognition.  "Grey men" don't exist because there are just so few of them.

Welcome to this brave new world.    Hope it works out for you guys.

 

[cupper]

On the other hand a female Platoon leader is doable.

Hope that was an unfortunate slip of the tongue.

 

[GnyHwy]

The CAF have had females in the regular force Artillery since at least the mid 80s (the extent of my recollection).  Perhaps OS might be able to nail down a date.

Females are very employable in the FA.  Lugging ammo and HMGs are only a couple tiny facets of what is expected of FA soldiers.  I remember lots of guys (in the warly 90s) complaining that "she can't even lift a 155 round"!  Who cares, there are plenty of scrawny dudes that can't lift them either; at least not repeatedly.  We use to have a lift test, where you lift a 155 round up onto a table 10 times in a minute or so.  It went away in the mid 90s?  The girls we had must have passed it.  I seem to remember a few dudes doing it with their legs vibrating too!

I realize this is generalizing, but in my experience being in charge of girls, they are more organized than dudes, they are more open to constructive criticism and they are generally more open minded. 

Nowadays, you would be very hard presses to walk through a gun park and not run into a girl, both NCM and O.  I am not sure of the percentage, but they are a significant minority. 

 

[SeaKingTacco]

The CAF have had females in the regular force Artillery since at least the mid 80s (the extent of my recollection).  Perhaps OS might be able to nail down a date.

Females are very employable in the FA.  Lugging ammo and HMGs are only a couple tiny facets of what is expected of FA soldiers.  I remember lots of guys (in the warly 90s) complaining that "she can't even lift a 155 round"!  Who cares, there are plenty of scrawny dudes that can't lift them either; at least not repeatedly.  We use to have a lift test, where you lift a 155 round up onto a table 10 times in a minute or so.  It went away in the mid 90s?  The girls we had must have passed it.  I seem to remember a few dudes doing it with their legs vibrating too!

I realize this is generalizing, but in my experience being in charge of girls, they are more organized than dudes, they are more open to constructive criticism and they are generally more open minded. 

Nowadays, you would be very hard presses to walk through a gun park and not run into a girl, both NCM and O.  I am not sure of the percentage, but they are a significant minority.

It was 1990 for the Reg Force when the first female gunners were trained. Can't speak about the Reserves, however.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Eeeewwww, an icky girl in the artillery?  Aren't they afraid of getting girl cooties?  :boke:

 

[Old Sweat]

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it was in the mid to late 80s, with all the same reactions the US Army is experiencing now. There were female gunners in Afghanistan from TF 1-06 on and the first female troop commander was on 1-07. (I sent her the link to the story and her reaction was "Welcome to 1991." She supported TF31 in operations for a while and found the SOF didn't seem to care once her M777s started producing unplanned martyrdoms among the local Taliban. [my words])

 

[cupper]

And let's not forget that Canada's first female lost in combat in Afghanistan was an artillery FOO. 

 

[jeffb]

Right now in 2 RCHA,  there are a number of female officers including: the 2I/C, BC F, BK HQ, 1 FOO/FAC and a gun line officer. The last BK E was also a woman and when were are in Bragg with the 82nd people seemed to be pretty amazed that a woman was the BC. I guess for us it's so normal at this point as to be a non-issue.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it was in the mid to late 80s, with all the same reactions the US Army is experiencing now. There were female gunners in Afghanistan from TF 1-06 on and the first female troop commander was on 1-07. (I sent her the link to the story and her reaction was "Welcome to 1991." She supported TF31 in operations for a while and found the SOF didn't seem to care once her M777s started producing unplanned martyrdoms among the local Taliban. [my words])

Pretty sure it was 119 Bty in 1990. D Troop, to be precise.... :nod:

 

[daftandbarmy]

And the British have had female gunners for years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uOjm3PPWuo