Women serving in combat

I. Performance of combat dutiesTypically, women have 60-80% the muscle mass of men. Women can only perform two-thirds the amount of physical exertion. [1] Moreover, they have far weaker bone structures, which puts their bones more at risk for breakages, which is a real issue when it comes to the physical rigors of combat. [2] It is unreasonable to expect servicewomen to follow the standards of servicemen when it comes to lifting heavy water tanks and supply packs full of necessary supplies. But let's remember soldiers are also expected to carry their wounded comrades during combat struggles, and a vast majority of women in the military would not be able to lift a grown man's full body weight. When it comes to physical capability, only the upper five percent of women are at the level of the male median. [3] Because women do not have equal physical capabilities with men and cannot perform some essential combat duties, they should not be allowed to serve in combat. II. PregnancyA study regarding military personnel was taken by UConn, and it showed that 56% of the women in “mixed gender units” ended up pregnant just prior or during their duty in Desert Storm. It also showed that 46% claimed that the pregnancies, “had a negative impact on unit readiness” and 59% said it had a “negative impact on morale.” [4] The USS Acadia, a military ship during the Gulf War, returned home from service with 1/10 of the women on the ship, 36 crew members, pregnant. [5] Also, women often do not know if they are pregnant or not, which leads to serious health and safety concerns. Do we want women with innocent lives in their wombs fighting against brutal militants abroad? Moreover, imagine how detrimental it is to a troop's morale when a fellow soldier leaves due to something like pregnancy; this would be an inevitable circumstance if women are to be allowed to take on combat roles in the military. III. Female POW'sMen's views of women plays a major part in the case of whether or not women should be allowed to take on combat roles in the military. First off, female POW's are often sexually abused and violated. Take the case of Major Rhonda Cornum for example. She was held captive for a week in Iraq during the Gulf War. During that time, she was violated both rectally and vaginally. [6] Women go through trials of sexual mistreatment when they are held captive by male enemies, and allowing women to serve in combat puts them at risk for serious consequences such as rape, something which male POW's are typically not subjected to, strictly due to their gender. Of course, all soldiers risk their lives fighting for freedom, but for women, the cost is much too high. Moreover, according to studies, male soldiers would not trust a female soldier to perform tasks that they expect fellow soldiers to perform. Trust is an important aspect of the military and the blatant lack of trust in the male-female soldier relationship is detrimental to the establishment as a whole. [7]---No matter what proponents of feminism say, men and women are biologically different. This is not a matter of equal gender rights under the law; this is about nature's well-established differences between the genders. Based on these differences, which have been stated in the aforementioned arguments, women should not be given the right to serve in combat roles in the military. Thank you. ---[1] http://www.livestrong.com...[2] http://www.jacn.org...[3] http://www.grossmont.edu...[4] http://www.bible-researcher.com...[5] http://www.rollcall.com...[6] http://www.nytimes.com...[7] http://books.google.com...