Bill Text: HI HCR17 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Combat Exclusionary Rule; Military; Women

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-27 - (H) Referred to PBM, referral sheet 9 [HCR17 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HCR17-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	17
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT THE REPEAL OF COMBAT EXCLUSIONARY RULES.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the United States military has an epidemic rate of rape in all branches of the armed services; and

 

     WHEREAS, in her book, "The Lonely Soldier:  The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq", Helen Benedict refers to several studies of the military funded by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to these studies, thirty per cent of military women are raped while serving, seventy-one per cent are sexually assaulted, and ninety per cent are sexually harassed; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of Defense acknowledges the problem, estimating in its 2009 annual report on sexual assault, that approximately ninety per cent of military sexual assaults are never reported; and

 

     WHEREAS, the combat arms specialties of the United States military continues to foster misogynist attitudes such as those expressed in this still-popular Jody call:  "Who can take a chainsaw, Cut the bitch in two, F*** the bottom half, And give the upper half to you..."; and

 

     WHEREAS, closing combat specialties does not keep women out of combat or safe; and

 

     WHEREAS, women have been toting M60 machine guns and M16 rifles into the forefront of battle zones for decades; and

 

     WHEREAS, these combat exclusionary rules keep women from promotion, in contrast to exclusively male combat specialties that are often fast-tracked; and

 

WHEREAS, there is a failure of leadership with regard to women on and off the battlefield; and

 

     WHEREAS, women and gay service members are harassed and assaulted as too many male commanders tolerate such abuse; and

 

     WHEREAS, senior military leaders of both genders have stated that combat exclusionary rules degrade both morale and readiness; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the Senate concurring, that the President and the United States Congress is requested to immediately repeal the combat exclusionary rules as contrary to good order and discipline and as the humane, ethical thing to do; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States of America, the Secretary of Defense, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

 

Report Title: 

Combat Exclusionary Rule; Military; Women