Overturning the “Risk Rule” of 1988, Opting for New Risks: U.S. Women Servicemembers and the War in Afghanistan

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221103295
• Author: Connie A. Buscha
• Date: 01 October 2023
• Subject Matter: Commentaries

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221103295

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(4) 1035 –1047

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X221103295

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Commentary

Overturning the “Risk

Rule” of 1988, Opting for

New Risks: U.S. Women

Servicemembers and the

War in Afghanistan

Connie A. Buscha1

Abstract

The evolution of the status of American women as warriors between Operation

Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990-1991 and the War in Afghanistan, beginning in

2001 [and simultaneously the Iraq War in 2003] is explored. This era of American

civil-military history included rescinding the ‘Risk Rule’ of 1988, the formal ban

on women serving in ground combat units. This generation of women’s legitimate

military service as warriors began. The Afghanistan War period also exposed,

however, the physical and emotional risks military women often face from their

own colleagues on a global scale in the form of sexual violence. As a society, we

purposefully must eliminate such risks inherent in the contemporary All-Volunteer

Force (AVF) and clean up the resulting messes before we even consider taking the

risk of conscription and mass mobilization of American women in our next war.

Keywords

Afghanistan, gender issues, civil military relations, cohesion/disintegration

In the Preface of my book, Lady Leathernecks: The Enigma of Women in the United

States Marine Corps, researched in 2007, I lamented the status of women as warriors

1Fayette County Mediation, La Grange, USA

Corresponding Author:

Connie A. Buscha, Fayette County Mediation, 727 S. Jefferson St, La Grange, TX 78945, USA.

Email: cab1964@utexas.edu

1103295AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X221103295Armed Forces & SocietyBuscha

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