Would a middle-eastern paramilitary team use female soldiers?

[Orion283]

I got a ways into the story with everything planned out and now it occurs to me that the characters may have to be a) not middle-eastern or b) not female. Could there possibly be some splinter group that might look past the traditions for one or two highly skilled operatives or is it so exceedingly unlikely that to have it in a story would shock the reader out of believability?

[KeinesV]

Would a middle-eastern paramilitary team use female soldiers?

Maybe for raping.


Seriously, it would depend on what part of the middle east. What do you have in mind?

[Lord of Fools]

Certainly. I'm sure you don't mean Israel, which is in the Middle East geographically and does have women as soldiers. Other places do too, though. Lebanon and Syria are the most likely. Saudi Arabia most likely not. Iran has female branches of the police, but I'm not sure about military or paramilitary units. There are also guerilla armies running around all over Iraq who take whoever they can get, sometimes formed by women.

[Ariella]

asdfljlkjgh Konrakku that's horrible!

But yeah, it depends on which country, really. Israel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces#Women_in_the_IDF)'s got tons of ladies in all sections of the military (I've got a female cousin in officer training at the mo', actually) and I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear of a female paramilitary soldier.

Other countries. . . . .? I can't imagine it being very common. If it's done well and explained coherently it wouldn't shock me out of the story as much as make me go "Woah! This chick's badass. She's definitely gotta be awesome if she's got the strength and guts to get up there, the military's got to have a male majority." Kind of like in Tamora Pierce's series about the girl who wanted to be a knight: By then it was allowed for girls to get the training but nobody dared try signing up till years after the main character did.

[MelancholyBliss]

If it's a splinter group, paramilitary, I'd say it would be okay depending on the country, even if said country wouldn't normally have female soldiers. I don't think it's such a stretch that it would shock people out of believability. It would be different, but depending on the story as a whole, I think it would be just different enough to still be good, not as in 'oh brother, that's just ludicrous.'