Women at war

In an era of war zones without front lines, Sarah Bryant's death shows true equality in the forces may be getting nearer, finds Jeremy Watson

SHE WAS young, bright, smiling, articulate and in her element. Outside the tented field hospital, Ona Calvert from Paisley, a captain in the British army's Medical Corps, was eager to show off the equipment she had been given to work with and the calibre of the soldiers under her control.

Just beyond the perimeter fence in the distance, the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Basra could be glimpsed through the haze.

"We are the combat medics who go out to give medical support to the troops if they get injured while out on patrol," she said. "Men and women, we do all the same jobs and we wouldn't have it any other way."

The romantic notion of red-crossed ambulances dashing out to give emergency aid, facing an enemy who would not fire on medics on humanitarian grounds is long gone in 21st-century warfare.

The combat paramedics are armed and their armoured Bulldog vehicles, which give greater protection against roadside bombs, have machine guns mounted on the roof. If they get attacked, they are trained to defend themselves.

"Luckily, it has been relatively quiet for us, except for the missiles." She's referring to the rockets lobbed into the British base near Basra airport almost daily by Iraqi insurgents which have claimed several lives. The troops have no need to go out of their base to find the front line. They are living on it. "I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to those," she said. "Everyone goes through the same thing so you are not alone. That helps to deal with it."

Like all the young men and women from Scotland around her, the 24-year-old officer was mainly focused on completing her latest six-month tour of duty and getting home safely. Quite clear on why she was serving in Iraq, she said she was determined to return one day, along with her family, to a hopefully peaceful and welcoming city.

"I want to come here in 20 years with my children, stay in a hotel in Basra and then come out to this spot," she said. "That would be really good and give me a sense that I helped to achieve something."

Similar thoughts may have passed through the mind of Sarah Bryant before she last week became the latest British servicewoman to die in the global war against terror. A corporal in the Psychological Operations Group, 26-year-old Bryant was blown up alongside three SAS reservists while out on a counter-terror operation in Afghanistan. A valued speaker of the local Pashtu language, she insisted on doing the same jobs as any of her male colleagues.

But her death – and the groundswell of sympathy it has prompted – has once again raised questions about the role of women in the front line of military operations. Although women are banned from joining the infantry and any role that directly involves face-to-face combat, growing equality is pitching young women in increasing numbers into dangerous combat-related situations. It brings to seven now the number of UK servicewomen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past four years.

It was only last year, following the capture of able-seaman Faye Turner in the Gulf by Iranian forces, when Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and former colonel, caused an outcry when he expressed the view that putting women, especially young mothers, into the front line was giving a gift to the enemy. If captured, they could become more of a propaganda tool than their male counterparts, he argued.

So what should be the woman's role in the modern expeditionary British army where front lines are no longer the straight divides of old? Can and should they have full fighting equality with male soldiers? And what is it like to be a woman at war?

More women are serving in a greater variety of posts in the armed forces than ever before. However, they still remain barred from units whose job is to "close" with the enemy on the ground and kill them.

In April 2008, there were 17,620 women in the armed forces, with 96% of jobs in the RAF open to females, 71% in the Royal Navy and 67% in the army. There are around 1,600 female soldiers on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan – around a fifth of the total – with most exposed to the same dangers as male colleagues from mortar fire and roadside bombs.

Although excluded from infantry and tank units in the army, they can serve close to or even beyond the front line as intelligence officers, signallers, logisticians, medics and artillery spotters.

The Royal Navy is less stringent. In 1994, the first women began full service aboard warships, but they are only barred from submarines and the Royal Marines' infantry role. In the RAF, almost all posts are open to women, including bomber, fighter and helicopter aircrew, apart from the RAF Regiment, which is an infantry unit.

Closing with the enemy, however, on the "asymmetric" battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan is now very different to what it was in the Great Wars of the 20th century and even conflicts such as the Falklands and the two Gulf Wars where front lines were more clearly defined.

One female captain from Aberdeen, serving in the Territorial reserve unit of the Royal Engineers and who has recently been on operations in Iraq, explained: "There is no front line." She worked on base protection, constructing defensive redoubts for infantry soldiers and helping with reconstruction projects. "There are women out there in combat zone operations all the time. They are not in the infantry, but it doesn't mean they are not out there on patrol in the villages along with the men. I am a captain and a troop commander and I have to be there.

"I have done all the training so I am going to take a gun out with me. Why would I not do that in the circumstances I was working in? We are fighting an expeditionary war here and circumstances have changed. If you get in a firefight on patrol, should the women politely stand aside and say: 'Well, I'm not firing'? I am a trained soldier with the same skills and I will get involved."

She has no desire for a direct combat role, but would not hold any of her female colleagues back. "Being an infantry soldier wouldn't suit everyone, but if that is your aspiration and you pass all the tests then why not if that is what you want to do?"

To most of the women in the armed forces, gender does not appear to be an issue apart from the banter found in any place of work. Susie Hamilton, from Edinburgh, worked her way up through the ranks of the Royal Navy to lieutenant commander, serving in the Balkans and the Gulf, and leaving last year.

In 1999, the threat was Serbian missiles aimed at British warships and there were dangerous missions to intercept ships smuggling contraband weapons.

"I didn't feel that I was any different to the men in those situations," she said. "There was a certain amount of anxiety, but, if anything, I think the main difference was between the older and younger members of the crew, than between men and women." She has no problem with women doing exactly the same job as men in whatever branch of the armed services they choose to join. "I don't see that there are significant differences between men and women. Certainly, on a ship a woman can do just about any job a man can do. I don't have any moral or ethical objections, none at all."

Within the ranks of serving and former servicemen and women, however, opinions remain sharply divided on whether women should be allowed full battlefield equality. When Sandi Pick, from Moray, joined the RAF women could do every job except flying. When she left her job as squadron leader 21 years later, women were able to fly combat missions. She could fire a machine gun if necessary. "But the thought of being out in the desert now carrying a gun? No.

"There are jobs that some women are physically unable to do that men can do, on and off the battlefield. But if a woman is in a situation where they could be killed and injured then that should be taken into account. I wouldn't like to see the rule on women joining the infantry relaxed. Not at the moment."

Stuart Crawford, a former colonel with that most macho of army units, the Royal Tank Regiment, says he has become convinced that the era of the infantrywoman is close. "I have commanded a mixed-sex training unit and it is my contention that men and women are absolutely equal. In some circumstance women are even better soldiers. I see no reason why they should not be in combat."

There are some, however, who believe that true gender equality in the armed forces will not be a reality until the deaths of servicewomen are given no more prominence that their male counterparts.

"We are seeing the same reaction from the media as we saw in Iraq when the first girl was killed there," said the captain from Aberdeen. "It detracts from the others who have been killed or seriously injured when such an emphasis is put on that fact that a woman was killed. When we are talking about equality, this just doesn't help. This kind of publicity doesn't help. Her death should not be treated any differently. It is not fair to others."