August
8, 2008: Noting the success of female military pilots in the United
States, other countries are moving in that direction as well. India
has joined its neighbors China and Pakistan by allowing women to
train to be combat pilots The reason is simple, many of the women who
go through flight training turn out to have better flying skills than
the average male pilot. But the traditional fear of women getting
killed in combat still plays a role. For example, India has been at
war with Islamic terrorists in Kashmir for over a decade. While
female police and government workers are at risk of injury from
terrorist attack, that is not considered the same as the risk to
female pilots flying in the area. So, bowing to real, or imagined,
public opinion, the Indian Air Force quietly transferred female
pilots from units that fly into Kashmir or near the Pakistani border.
That has now changed because the Indian military has been suffering a
severe officer shortage for some years. There has also been a
shortage of officers with technical skills, like flying aircraft.
The
Indian armed forces conducted studies of women in combat, and
concluded that there was no practical reason for keeping women from
many of these duties,including jet fighters. There are currently 1800
female officers in the Indian armed forces. Most are in the army, but
39 percent are in the air force, and 45 of them are non-combat
pilots.
India,
and even Pakistan (which just graduated its first female pilots) are
having a hard time keeping male pilots in uniform. Too many of the
men depart for more lucrative, and less stressful, careers as
commercial pilots. Women may not be the solution. Currently, only
about half of women officers stay in past their initial five year
contract. Indian women, even military pilots, are under tremendous
social and family pressure to marry. Those that do may still be
pilots, but married women are under a lot of pressure to have
children. The Indian Air Force provides its female officers with ten
months leave for this, six months during pregnancy, and four months
after delivery. The air force does this because pilots are very
expensive to train. A good pilots costs over half a million dollars
for training expenses, and takes over five years. So the Indians are
betting a lot of money, and time, on their female pilots. Many women
are willing to take up the challenge. But they have already heard
from their peers in Western air force, that motherhood and piloting
can be a very exhausting combination.
Worldwide,
women are increasingly part of the military. In many nations, over
ten percent of military personnel are female. A century ago, it was
under one percent (and most of those were nurses and other medical
personnel.) More women are in uniform now because there aren't enough
qualified men, especially for many of the technical jobs armed forces
now have to deal with.
Islamic
nations have higher illiteracy rates overall, and very high rates for
women. These nations have a severe shortage of technically trained
people. Those women that do get an education in Islamic cultures tend
to be very bright and able. So there's a need, and a solution close
at hand. But because of those religious restrictions, and the
generally very macho attitudes in Islamic nations, there will never
be as many women in uniform as are needed. This means that Islamic
armed forces will continue to come up short when it comes to
maintaining and using military technology. The future of military
operations is more technology, so you can see where this is leading.
No wonder Islamic radicals want to go back to the past.
Unfortunately, the non-Moslem world is not inclined to join them.
Taking a knife to a gun fight doesn't work.
