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Army closes Transformation recon teams to women

by Staff Sgt. Marcia Triggs

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 7, 2002) - Female soldiers will no longer be assigned to unique reconnaissance organizations marked to be the Objective Force's eyes and ears on the battlefield.

At the request of the Training and Doctrine Command, female soldiers will no longer be authorized assignment to the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadrons at Fort Lewis, Wash.

Also the 13 female soldiers currently assigned to the squadrons will be reassigned within the brigade. The recon squadrons fall under the Interim Brigade Combat Team, and within the brigade women can be assigned to headquarters, the signal company; the military intelligence company and the brigade support battalion.

As of April 26, the U.S. Total Army Personnel Command stopped assigning soldiers to the Surveillance Troop, a subordinate element of the RSTA. The Surveillance Troop was the only element of RSTA coded P2, which means either male or female soldiers can be assigned to the unit.

The Direct Ground Combat Position Coding for RSTA will be P1, male only, because its operating environment will have them collocating with direct ground combat units, said a Department of the Army official.

The decision was made after TRADOC determined a change in RSTA's mission and tactics. The command then recommended that the coding of the surveillance troop be changed from P2, interchangeable, to P1, male only, officials said. Once Operations and Plans, G3 validated the change in requirement, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, G1 determined the appropriate coding, the official said.

The Department of Defense policy is to not assign women to positions involving direct ground combat, which is the reason women cannot be drafted and are not required to register with the Selective Service System, according to a Selective Service System fact sheet.

The recon squadrons will fall under the Interim Brigade Combat Teams, said Lt. Col. Michael Negard, the Transformation public affairs officer out of Fort Lewis. The only two RSTAs to be affected by the decision are at Fort Lewis.

"RSTA is unlike any other unit in the Army, and is very heavily staffed with solders who perform information gathering and intelligence processing," Negard said. "They can paint a picture of the battlefield, allowing the brigade commander to make tactical decisions based on the information they gathered."

RSTA is made up of primarily scouts, armor crewman and a host of intelligence and communication specialists, Negard said. The female soldiers who will be reassigned specialized mainly in electronic warfare and cryptologic operations, he said.

Female soldiers in other specialties included Morse code interception, unit supply, chemical operations and unmanned aerial vehicle operations, Negard added.

The 13 female soldiers were unavailable for comment. The RSTA command said that they didn't play a role in the decision to change coding - they're just implementing the policy.

Placing the RSTA under the wing of the IBCT puts a cavalry squadron for the first time ever in a brigade, Negard said. Usually cavalry units are found in divisions and corps, he added. This will give the IBCTs intelligence-gathering capabilities that other brigades won't have.

The purpose of the Army IBCTs is filling the current operational gap between light and heavy forces.

RSTA soldiers using an array of sensors, ground surveillance radars and the tactical internet, which allows soldiers to communicate their position along with the enemy's without radios land lines or maps, will enable the IBCT to fight the enemy on their terms, Negard said.

The first operational RSTA will be the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in Spring 2003. The second IBCT isn't scheduled to be operational until Spring 2004 - 2nd Squadron, 14th Calvary, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Both are out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Each IBCT will include a RSTA, and future IBCTs will be 172nd Infantry Brigade, Fort Richardson, Alaska; 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Polk, La.; 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii and the 56th Brigade of the 28th Infantry Division in Pennsylvania, which is a National Guard unit.