Arms training for woman soldiers

Press, 29 December 1980, Page 12

Arms training for woman soldiers

NZPA - ; London . . Women in ' ■ Britain’s armed forces are to be trained to use firearms’; for the first time, but only for ' self-defence. The recent announce- , ment by Francis Pym, Secretary: of State for Defence, in the . Commons follows discussion of the subject in the Defence White Paper earlier this year. Small arms training will begin shortly. It will be for limited numbers, and not. all three services will be affected. . , : ’ ; Training will be standard for members of;,-;.--the Women’s Royal 'Army Corps,; although individuals can’ opt. out if they have strong objections. In the Women’s Royal Air Force the training will be voluntary, although it is expected that most women in both these services will eventually receive instruction. ' . y.-'1 The Women’s - Royal NavaL Service will have no training because its members are unlikely to be . posted to jobs where they might need weapons. It is unlikely that women will be trained to use the standard self-loading rifle, which'is heavy and cumbersome and has a fearful recoil and bang. The choice for the time being will probably rest

with ; the . Sterling subiriiachirie gun or the Brownring ,9mm pistol. The idea of arming women; is that, they might be able to defend themselves in wartime without . having to depend on' servicemen, who would be needed elsewhere, 'j'-’’-; There is no intention of equipping women with a weapon to be carried at all times. Nor is there any intention to arm women serving in Northern Ireland, where they will continue to come under the protection of soldiers. There seems to be no ■ doubt in the United States Army, about. women’s effectiveness in combat. ■ “They.would be deadly,” was the comment of one army sergeant after watching women soldiers training. In the United States, there is now one woman for every ten men in the armed services, . and all have been trained to shoot. The United States stresses, “there is no combat capability.” But soldiers in the United States Army doubt that this distinction could be maintained in war. “If the Russians came,” one army officer said, “the whole of Europe would be a combat zone. No way could our girls stay out of combat. It would be a case of kill or be .killed.”