Evaluation of the Performance of Females as Light Infantry Soldiers

A few countries permit women to serve in combat roles, but their long term performance in these positions has not been reported. The incidences of overuse injuries and attrition of 85 male and 235 female recruits in a light infantry brigade was followed in a three-year prospective study. Females wer...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioMed research international 2014-01, Vol.2014 (2014), p.1-7
Main Authors: Finestone, Aharon S., Milgrom, Charles, Yanovich, Ran, Evans, Rachel, Constantini, Naama, Moran, Daniel S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Armed forces
Female
Fractures, Stress - epidemiology
Humans
Israel - epidemiology
Male
Medical research
Military maneuvers
Military personnel
Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data
Physical fitness
Physical Fitness - physiology
Physiological aspects
Sex Factors
Statistics
Women soldiers
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A few countries permit women to serve in combat roles, but their long term performance in these positions has not been reported. The incidences of overuse injuries and attrition of 85 male and 235 female recruits in a light infantry brigade was followed in a three-year prospective study. Females were shorter (162 cm, CI 161–163 cm) than males (174 cm, CI 173–176), had more body fat (18.9 kg, CI 18.2–19.6 kg) than males (12.6 kg, 11.3–13.8 kg), had lower V˙O2max (36.8 mL·min−1·kg−1, CI 35.8–37.78 mL·min−1·kg−1) than males (50.48 mL·min−1·kg−1, CI 48.4 to 52.48 mL·min−1·kg−1), had more stress fractures (21.0%, 95% CI 16.2–26.5%) than males (2.3%, CI 0.3–8.2%), and had more anterior knee pain (41.2%, CI 34.9–47.7%) than males (24.7%, CI 16.0–35.2%). Three-year attrition was 28% CI 22–34% for females and 37% CI 26–48% for males. The females in this study successfully served as light infantry soldiers. Their lower fitness and high incidence of overuse injuries might impede service as regular infantry soldiers.
ISSN:2314-6133
2314-6141
DOI:10.1155/2014/572953