Women in Combat

Before we proceed, this is not meant to be a sexist rant about the equality of men in women in the military. It is about one subject: women in combat. Now, I make this argument not based on research or what I read in a book but from my experience as a Marine who has seen the horrors of war first hand. In 2003 I was apart of the invasion into Iraq(my belief on the war in Iraq is a whole nother debate to which my position might surprise you). It goes without saying that warfare is one of the most brutal acts man can do against his fellow man. Sometimes we fight for virtue and sometimes we fight for political advantage. The next logical question would be,"who should fight?" Almost since the dawn of time that has fallen on the shoulders of men, there are historical examples of women warriors throughout time i.e; Joan of Arc, Boudicca are amongst the well known, however these women were the exception, not the rule. It's safe to say that war is a "guy thing." In the so called "war on terror" women have found themselves under incredibly enduring circumstances where they had to step up to the plate and go "full bore" on the enemy. Their actions are above commendable. Because of this the argument has come up that women should be able to serve in front line infantry and special operations units, pushing the social hype aside, lets get to the meat and potatoes, should they or shouldn't they. There are some roles in life best suited for men and best for women, I was raised by a single mother and she went to the ends of the earth to raise me right, however she could never be the one thing I wanted most, a father. One of the first things I hear in this debate is "how strong do you have to be to pull a trigger?" Not strong at all I say, a child around 7 has enough strength to pull the trigger, does that mean we should have child soldiers? Just look to Africa for examples of that. Strength is a major part of it, I've had to carry packs that were in excess of a hundred pounds for distances of up to 10 miles, marched until my feet have bled and gone days with very little sleep, food or water. The physical effort required is sometimes that of an Olympic athlete. Women are given lesser physical standards because of this, however combat has only one standard, life or death and if you can't hack it you might die or you weakness might get someone else killed. There is no argument that men and women are different physically so lets go to a sensitive subject, that time of the month. Women require special needs during there menstrual cycle, some can tough it out, some can't. The mission isn't going to stop so a woman can address her "needs" nor will it be augmented around them. Next comes the issue of fraternization, no military can ever discipline away men and women's attraction to one another. As a Marine, if we had a female in my platoon that was just as tough as any of her male counterparts, I might just fall in love. Imagine the love triangle in that unit. More importantly the "little sister" mentality would kick in , causing some of the honor-bound males to be overprotective of her. That could be bad. As a man I could run past another wounded brother and stay on mission,but my honor would not allow me to do the same to a woman, call me old-fashioned. Next their is the issue of promotion, because women would be a minority in a combat unit the issue of whether the are being fairly promoted would come up. Not enough promotions and the unit commanders come across as sexist, to much and it looks like favoritism. Either way a person in the military should be promoted based on merit not status. I can go on and on but I won't, I'll save that for the debate. In closing the advocates for women in combat won't "get it" until they see their mothers,sisters,daughters and wives coming home in flagged draped caskets by the thousands or go down to the local VA clinic and see them in wheelchairs. Women ARE equal in war, they can equally die, lose their limbs, be burned beyond recognition and have mental problems for life. What do you think the enemy is going to with female POW's, take them to dinner and a movie.