2 U.S. Women Pilots Came Under Heavy Panama Fire : Combat: The disclosure is a new indication of the extent that women took part in the invasion.

Two women helicopter pilots shuttling soldiers into combat during the early hours of the U.S. invasion of Panama came under gunfire so fierce that one of the choppers had to be grounded, Army officials said Thursday.

In recognition of their performance under fire, the two have been recommended for the Air Medal with a “V” for valor. They would become the first women to receive the decoration with the valor designation.

The account of the two pilots flying UH-60 “Blackhawk” helicopters through skies alight with tracer bullets provided a new indication of the degree to which women soldiers in Panama found themselves caught up in combat, from which they are barred by Army policy.

A senior Army official emphasized that the women had been assigned to the shuttle mission over Panama City with the expectation that it would involve only normal aviation duties, but “it just so happened that they found themselves in a situation where there was gunfire.”

“At night, when you see the tracer bullets coming at you, you realize you could end up giving your life for your country,” one of the women, Lt. Lisa Kutschera, told the Associated Press, which first reported the incident.

Kutschera and Warrant Officer Debra Mann encountered the gunfire as they rushed paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division in the early morning of Dec. 20 from their initial landing site at Torrijos International Airport to various objectives around Panama City, military sources said.

After one such trip, Mann’s helicopter was discovered to have been hit by several rounds and damaged so badly that it was grounded, the Army officials said.

Mann told the AP that she and the rest of the crew had “heard the shots but didn’t even know we had been hit.” Their commander, Capt. Thomas Muir, who was shot in the head during one of the operations, said the women “took a tremendous amount of fire.”

Soldiers who were shuttled on the helicopter missions have described the gunfire they encountered while in the air as some of the heaviest they faced in Panama, with bullets flying from unexpected directions as Panamanian soldiers fought from the streets.

In particular, paratroopers who were ferried toward the hilltop Panama Defense Forces garrison of Tinajitas said their helicopters were riddled with automatic weapons fire from surrounding bluffs as they approached the appointed landing zone.

It could not be learned exactly which missions the two women participated in, and Army officials said they did not know whether the helicopters returned fire.

Debate about excluding women soldiers from combat missions has surfaced with new vehemence in the aftermath of the Panama invasion, which provided evidence that the distinction between combat and noncombat roles might be artificial in modern warfare.

The issue gained attention after press accounts, later repeated by White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, reported that Army Capt. Linda Bray led a force of 30 military police in a three-hour gun battle with elements of the now-disbanded Panama Defense Forces.

Army officials said later that the accounts were inflated and that the exchange of fire lasted only 10 minutes, causing no casualties.

As a result of action seen by Bray and other Army women, Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), has called for legislation directing the Army to move toward permitting women to serve in all military jobs, including combat.

An Army official said the two women helicopter pilots were nominated to receive the Air Medal for the “extraordinary manner in which they performed their duties as air crewmen,” and have also been recommended for an additional “V” decoration for their valor.

The men in the Ft. Ord-based unit also were recommended for medals, the two women told the AP. Final decisions about the medals are to be made by Army Lt. Gen. Carl W. Stiner, who acted as operational commander during the invasion.

A third helicopter pilot, Warrant Officer Caryl Newberry, was also nominated to receive an Air Medal after she came under small arms fire while flying a helicopter on a logistics mission Dec. 21, an Army spokesman said.