Female soldiers serving in Queen's Foot Guards call for Army to stop calling them 'Guardsmen' (2024)

FAQs

Female soldiers serving in Queen's Foot Guards call for Army to stop calling them 'Guardsmen'? ›

Junior guards have called for a change to the rank of Guardsman – which largely predates the lifting of a ban on women in combat roles in 2018 – be replaced simply with the term "Guard". The Army confirmed that it was ready to reconsider its use of gendered terms, to conform with "equality, diversity and inclusivity".

In April 2007, the first women in the British Army served on detachments of the Queen's Guard when the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery took over the guard at Windsor Castle.

All the regiments wear the ceremonial red tunic and bearskin hats when on guard duty outside Royal Palaces. Now the Army is considering changing the name Guardsmen following complaints by female soldiers.

Women will be allowed to serve in each Guards' regiment sovereign company for the first time - the elite unit usually made up of the tallest men in the battalion who, on average, stand at 6ft 2in and protect the Queen's colours.

The soldiers come from active regiments in the British Army, and any action deemed threatening, regardless of how minor, can cause them to react forcefully. If a member of the public touches them or their horse or invades their space, they are allowed to shout clear verbal commands at them to back off.

There are the Life guards, the Blues and Royals (Household Cavalry), the Grenadiers, the Coldstreams, the Scots, Irish and Welsh guards (Foot Guards). They are soldiers. If you happen to be a black Briton in one of those regiments then you are in the guards' division. You don't “get hired”, you are a serving solider.

Privates in the Foot Guards are all known as Guardsmen whether they are male or female.

Are bearskin caps made of real bearskin? The short answer is yes: they are made from brown bear pelts sourced from Canada. According to the MoD, bears are not hunted to order; rather the pelts are a product of "legal and licensed hunting authorised in Canada by provincial and territorial governments."

The white plume on the side of the headdress is a symbol of the Grenadiers. The tradition of wearing bearskins on ceremonial occasions and for guard duty continues to this day. These headdresses are made with real bearskins. Each hat is 18 inches (46 cm) tall, and weighs 1.5 pounds (.

Approximately one bear is used to make one hat! To supply these hats, Canadian bears are legally shot or trapped in foot snares across the provinces. What makes these bear killings extremely cruel is that bears who are shot and escape die painfully from blood loss, starvation or infection.

What is a female soldier called? ›

Female members of the United States Army are referred to simply as “females” when being addressed by gender.

Women in the army are permitted to wear makeup – however it has to be inconspicuous and natural in appearance, after training this includes natural eyelash extensions, and nail polish although this cannot be of bright colour.

Women play a vital role in today's Army; they are the Soldiers on the front-line; they are leaders, officers and noncommissioned officers standing with our troops; they are members of the United States Army Civilian Corps, as well as employers, spouses, mothers and sisters who are critical members of our Army team.

Smiling is Forbidden

This is because the Queen's guards are expected to display the utmost professionalism, in spite of being a marvel for tourists across the globe. Some rumours have suggested that the guards are fined for smiling; however, this isn't the case.

Orders for sentry duty read out before each two-hour 'tour of duty', make it clear that sentries "may not eat, sleep, smoke, stand easy, sit or lie down during [their] tour of duty". Sentries receive instruction on how to eliminate nuisance or any suggestion of threat from members of the public.

Guards “are allowed to get [people] away by shouting… warnings if they fail to move away or start to act aggressively,” the Reddit guard says. For instance, they're known to yell “make way for the Queen's Guard!” at tourists who get in their way. He finds shouting this to be a fun part of the job.

The guards aren't all men, by the way! It's true that women couldn't join combat groups in the British army, especially the infantry. But that was until 2017 — when a Canadian soldier named Megan Couto became eligible to join the troop.

Can girls be a grenadier guard? Anonymous asked a question to James M. Jen C. Hi, yes females can be Grenadier Guards.

The men and women of the Air Force Honor Guard represent every member, both past and present, of the Air Force. Now, as one of the Air Force's oldest organizations, the Honor Guard continues to serve the Chief of Staff of the Air Force as the face of the Air Force to the American and global public.

Enlisted women

Although women were allowed to join the National Guard as officers in 1956, women were not able to join the ranks as enlisted members until 1968. Even after integrating women into the military, the roles women filled were classified as combat support.