Survey: 8 percent of Army women want combat jobs

Less than 8 percent of women serving in the Army are interested in moving into combat jobs that are being opened for them, according to initial results of an Army survey.

The Associated Press reported that the preliminary results of a survey of the Army’s 170,000 female soldiers found that few are looking to move into combat positions — but most of those who do want to take on elite special forces roles.

{mosads}The survey found 7.5 percent of the 30,000 women in the active duty, guard or reserve who responded said they would want a job in infantry, armor, artillery and combat engineer units.

The Pentagon moved to open up most combat roles to women, ending a ban on female service members serving in direct combat posts.

The services have until 2016 to determine whether they want to keep any positions closed to women.

The Army’s surveys have found that both genders have concerns about moving women into combat roles, according to the AP.

Men are worried about losing their jobs to women, while female soldiers are worried they would be viewed as getting jobs because they are women.

Soldiers in both genders said that the Army must not lower its standards for any of the combat jobs.