THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT.
Full disclosure, I am ex-military, a former officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (both mandatory IDF military service, and mandatory IDF reserve duty service; 1994 - 2014).
I became a commanding officer in 1996, and have experience working with Israeli Army and Air Force special ops units, and the IDF's Combat Fitness School.
The answers are yes, and they should! - Women can serve in special ops units (elite military units), and should be allowed to serve in special ops units. Glad we got that out of the way.
Women should be allowed and encouraged to try out for these special ops units and serve in them, within the same limitations that apply to men, that being that all those who serve as special ops operators, must be combat ready at the highest level required to successfully carry out special ops missions.
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When a woman shows greater abilities than a man, while challenged fairly and without favoritism nor discrimination, she should be chosen rather than that man. I have expressed this opinion 20 years ago, and it remains unchanged. With that said, I would like to survey as many implications as I can think of, in favor and against, while doing my best to stay as objective as I can. I am a man.
Objectively, most men and women are physically built differently. While we have somewhat similar body composition, it is different enough to make a difference as it pertains to the physical requirements of a combat military mission. An average man's muscle mass, fat mass, and overall physical built is more suitable for military missions, than that of the average woman. This does not mean that women cannot make it into special ops units, yet it does decrease the statistical probability compared to that of men (in average).
Without indicating actual numbers and extents of actual units, and applying the harshest acceptance criteria possible, it is my experience that out of every 1,000 candidates for the most elite military special ops units, 40-60% of the candidates would pass a preliminary one day long vigorous and robust screening phase. Out of the same 1,000 candidates, 20-30% of the candidates would pass a preliminary one week long vigorous and robust screening phase.
Out of the same 1,000 candidates, 30-50 (3-5%) of the candidates will successfully finish the most challenging military training process possible, and become a combat-ready special ops operator. Out of the same 1,000 candidates, 2-5 people (0.2-0.5%) will become team leaders. It is very likely that the numbers and percentages will be much lower for women (I would be happy to be proven wrong!).
As an expert kinesiologist and expert exercise physiologist, it is clear to me, that there is a good chance that we would have to train the women in such a way, that will make there body resemble that of men. Evermore so in the upper body, and more specifically the shoulders and upper back. Another area of the body that would demand attention is the thigh. Yet, I remain convinced that it is possible nonetheless.
An objective problem (at first) would be the fact that combat units in general, and special ops units in particular are still largely male dominant environments. Could a female candidate truly be evaluated objectively? - even if a man truly has the upmost best intentions to choose objectively, can we assure that sub-consciously sex differences do play a role?
Sexual tension. Can sexual tension be avoided in a mixed sex team. It should be possible, yet it is not natural to not have sexual tension between men and women. Can a dominantly male team, avoid completely the inherent need that men tend to have to protect a woman, thus perhaps influencing their proper decision making? - Will men take actions to protect a female teammate that they would feel compelled to do with a male teammate?
Pain. Women tend to experience pain more intensively than man. Research shows similar variability between men and women as to the pain threshold, yet not how intensively pain is experienced. This fact is at least partially explained by a greater density of nerves in women.
Decision making. Based on research conducted by researchers, women rare more empathetic while men are more analytical and logical. Men have a bias toward action, while women are more inclined to be reflective and feelings-driven. The latter can lead to better decisions and investment outcomes. The meta-analysis by Eagly et al. (2019) revealed that competence was more characteristic of a woman than of a man.
Mental maturation. Women mature in general earlier than men, and up to ten years earlier. Women are expected to fully mature mentally around age 32, while men do the same around age 42. This means that women have a greater tendency to make more mature decisions earlier than men. Yet, this dynamic is not necessarily the same under extensive pressure.
Men are more likely to make ego-based decisions compared to women. Men are significantly more inclined than women to harbor feelings of entitlement. men tend to perform better than women in situations with little time to solution, while women perform better than men in situations with plenty of time to solution.
Women tend to use more passive and avoidant emotion-focused coping strategies in response to stressful situations and men tend to use more problem solving-focused strategies. Research shows that women are twice as much likely to develop depression, compared to a man. Women tend to feel stressed one and a half times more than men.
Dozens of years of research and experienced within special ops units, show that the best team is not necessarily made up of the candidates with the highest scores during the initial screening processes. In fact, the most successful special ops team has people that fit certain roles within the team, according to personal characteristics. Thus, it is not necessarily the physically fittest person that makes it into the team. It is not necessarily the best shooter or killer, that makes into the team.
Who does make it into the team? - analysis of those that successfully served in a special ops team, teaches us that the number one trait crucial for a successful special ops operator is being someone that never gives up, no matter what. It is by far the leading trait required. Though far behind, the second trait most important trait is to turn negative situations into positive situation, and equally important, the ability to constantly show learning and improvement. The third most important trait is the ability to keep calm and never lose control, no matter what is thrown at you.
To make special ops team dynamics even trickier. Experience shows that even if unintentionally, highly functional special ops teams have teammates that fit a specific social role, with few members "competing" for the same role within the team. For example, if a special ops team were to include ten members, would the team function smoothly if all ten would consider themselves to be the alpha? - absolutely not!
Accordingly, a highly functional team will have one or two natural leaders; a different person that can calm down everyone and defuse any tension within the team; another team member that is trusted by the entire team to act as the "judge" and "decide" who is right and who is wrong if two members are arguing or fighting; Another team member take on the role of the "joker or clown", as they tend to keep the atmosphere light happy. This person is the "spirit-lifter" of the team; Lastly, a highly functioning tam includes a team member that has high emotional intelligence, without having it effect that effectiveness as a special ops operator.
Though counter-intuitive, and seemly extremely hard to believe, the best candidates are competitive, yet quickly realize that they are competing first and foremost with themselves. Yep, you read correctly. A candidate for a special ops unit is there own biggest competition. While people leave or are released from the special ops unit's training process, those who advance and succeed in the unit's training are chosen based on their own advancement in performance, and based on their personal traits more than anything else, not someone else's.
A concern that can arise at any time, is the possibility that a female special ops candidate will feel a strong need to prove herself more than her male counterparts, to the point where it will influence her ability to make proper decisions. Fairly, this phenomenon is not unique only to women that feel they need to prove themselves. A common phenomenon is the fear of reporting mental and physical illnesses, problems in general, and sharing truthful thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, the need to make everything seem less negative than it is, and bottle emotions, fears, and anxiety, may come up even worse later on.
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Food for thought, a nation's level of "readiness" to see a female special ops operator in captivity, and possibly being raped on video, can be influential to a nation based on its culture, beliefs, and traditions. Research shows that most of the population would deal better with a male soldier taken captive and tortured, compared to a female soldier undergoing the exact same.
Writing about this next point, I will do my best to come across as most respectful, as that is exactly what I am. Taking into consideration the immense difficulty to find special ops eligible operators that will successfully pass the screening and training processes, the length of training, and it high cost per operator, "losing" such a high quality and rare operator due pregnancy of the female operator can be meaningful to the unit, and especially the team. With that said, it is any woman's natural and undisputed right to have children and a family as much as her male teammates!
In summery, I am an avid supporter of an equal chance for women becoming special ops operators, as long as we are realistic about the meanings to the individual woman, her family, and the nation. Yet, most importantly, we must never show favoritism nor discrimination in choosing who makes it into the team, rather than their ability to successfully fulfill military missions of the upmost importance, complexity, and of the toughest mental and physical nature known to humanity. Dr. Saghiv, out!
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