Betsy: After over forty years of hearing women are equal in all respects simply prove it. In all respects, serve your country in a fully equal basis … or SHUT UP.
D.B.Lash

Ah, but there are two ways men and women are not the same, whatever their equality. Women are physically weaker, and only we can have babies. This must be taken into consideration in the military, because the military exists not to be a social experiment, but to fight and win wars.

Thanks for writing.

Betsy

I wrote a long letter to the Sun-Times, which I’m sure will be significantly shortened, if published at all. But here I’ll try to keep this brief:

It’s ridiculous and insulting to say that a woman’s life is more valuable than a man’s, and that a man should more readily sacrifice his life for mine than I would for his.

The PT standards are to keep us in shape. They differ by age, too. Are you saying that, because a male in his 30s has a few extra seconds for the two-mile run, he does not have “an equal opportunity to survive” as a 20 year-old?

While in Iraq, never did my life depend on whether I could run two miles in under 15 minutes. That’s why we learn to shoot.

just curious, who forced these mothers to sign up for the military in the first place? women want to be equal to men, equal pay, “I can do any job a man can do and do it better”, except get shot at? I have three grandsons in this war, I don’t like it, but I don’t want one of them stepping in front of some “mom”. I would like for them to be a “dad” some day.

I agree about sending women, especially single mothers, or mothers, at that, into war zones. But, I love Josh Groban and I love his version of the song. It is a beautiful tribute to our military men and women around the world.

I am a woman and also a veteran of the U.S. Army. I served in Operation Iraqi freedom in a combat role. I do not have any children, but I witnessed first-hand the heartache that my fellow soldiers felt every time we were deployed and they left behind young children at home. I want to make clear though that both mothers and fathers felt this heartache, not just mothers. We had single mothers in our unit who left their children at home with grandparents or other caregivers. Again, the sacrifices made by these women and their children were certainly great, but the sense of personal pride acquired through service was also great. One single mother in particular chose to join the army as a way to improve her economic situation. She has since used her military benefits to attend college. She now earns a nice living as a nurse practitioner and her children (1 boy and 1 girl) are growing up with a fantastic role model who consistently displays the values of hard work, commitment, and service to country; among others.

While serving in our nation’s armed forces is certainly not for everyone, the decision to serve is one that every American ought to be able to make; regardless of gender. Personally, I think it is a responsibility that far too many American men and women shirk. What you forget, or perhaps are not aware of, is that today’s military has many job-class specialties that require more brain than brawn. Even in my experience in a combat role, the women were just as physically capable of performing the necessary job duties as the men. If anything, the only people who struggled were the older soldiers. That said, if a particular unit requires a significantly higher level of physical strength, then soldiers who do not meet the requirements should not be a part of that particular unit; again regardless of gender.

For the most part, the men and women in my unit behaved much like brothers and sisters. We looked out for each other, we learned to protect one another, depend on each other, laugh with one another, and respect each other as equals. I would have risked my life to save any one of them and I know they would have done the same for me, again regardless of gender. The so-called feminist movement is all about choice and flexibility. Women and families today have the ability to choose a lifestyle that works best for their situation. There are plenty of families out there where dad is the primary caregiver at home and mom works the high-demand career. Are there more men than women interested in a military career? Probably. However, I am here to tell you that there are plenty of women who contribute greatly to this country’s safety and security in the US Armed forces.

I thought you might be interested in a discussion of co-ed combat that has been taking place at Eugene Volokh’s blog over the past week. See this post for discussion and links to multiple posts on the subject:

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_12_02-2007_12_08.shtml#1197065722

How wonderful to read your column and find my thoughts and beliefs reflected in the views of a writer with the ability to positively influence millions of readers. One phrase in your recent column “Of Soldiering and mothering” immediately struck me because it was a question I raised in my own written musings years ago – what kind of a civilized society would allow it’s mothers and daughters to be placed willingly in harm’s way? I concluded that it was a society with grossly misplaced priorities, one with a fundamental lack of appreciation for the proper role that females and mothers in particular should play in the creation of a civil society, one in which effeminate men have been raised in a belief system in which the opposite sex is not to be protected and cherished for the special beings they are. Within minutes of reading your article, I saw a ‘spot’ for John Cusak’s movie “Grace Is Gone”. The Hollywood “types” are the instigators and supporters of much of our societal dysfunctionality (women dying in a combat zone in this case), perhaps because they can then produce profitable movies about how tragic it is when a mother dies in combat. One notes the choice for the deceased’s gender in this movie. Even a Hollywood producer innately understands the larger tragedy of the needless combat death of a mother. It is so very unfortunate that we as a people have not drawn a line in the sand and said – we will protect our women. I suppose that takes real men, and John Wayne is gone.

How many single fathers are out there in uniform. Leave it up to someone that probally never served 1 day of their life in uniform regardless of the branch to say something like this ad. And by the way if you take just one second to think different between a male and female could mean life or death. Are you saying they we are not decent men because we serve those who are afraid to even think about doing something honorable for their country. I am kind of embarrassed because my newspaper would even publish an ad like this but at the same time I can see how dumb people can be. Proudly serving you and other people that hate what us service members do everyday

Hi friends – wow, this column has sure generated a lot of controversy and comment. I’ve been inundated by e-mail and many of you have shared comments here. Thank you for responding.

In short, the military exists to fight and win wars, as I noted my column, not to advance careers or a political agenda. At least, that’s what it should be doing. That, in a nutshell, is my response to any argument about women’s advancement etc.

I’ve also heard from folks who argue that “hey, women want to be equals – have at ya – enjoy the front lines!” But surely we agree that while men and women are equals in every way, they are not the same: there remain two fundamental differences. Only women can have babies, and women are almost always physically weaker than men. Surely we are a mature enough people to respond appropriately to those facts of life?

Here’s why it’s so important that decent men physically protect and care for women: because men are physically stronger, they can use their strength in one of two ways when it comes to women: a man can hurt or physically subjugate women (which is the situation in much or even most of the non-western world); or he can lay down his strength, use his strength, to protect women. (I suppose the third option is to just be a benign presence when it comes to women, but given human nature most men are going to go one way or the other.)

When we train men not to protect women, as this military does, to deny their decent motivations, we are asking for trouble in our culture.

Finally, to those who say the inclusion of women in all areas of the military and even in combat roles doesn’t impact our military readiness, I invite you to read below. It’s a column I wrote on the same subject (but focusing on military readiness vs. the culture impact) of women in the military a few years ago. Again, thanks so much for letting me hear from so many of you.

And by the way, for all of you who defended Josh Groban – hey, I love the guy, I even like the idea behind the song. What makes me “sick” is only how “normative” it was/is to include a story from a (presumably) single mom at war.

Merry Christmas!

U.S. women waging war a scary tactic
Betsy Hart

Yep: When war comes in the door, political correctness goes out the window.

We’ve already seen it on issues like guns–I recently wrote that in eastern states in particular, they are flying off the shelves. We’ve seen it in the issue of so-called ethnic profiling–in the wake of the terrorist attacks, a Gallup Poll showed that 71 percent of blacks and 57 percent of whites want some level of extra scrutiny afforded people from the Middle East when it comes to airport security.

Now, just wait for reality to hit the issue of women in the military.

Make no mistake: American women have a long, proud and admirable history of serving and even dying for their country in military service. But only in the last decade has there been the move, thanks to many political, cultural and even military leaders, to fully integrate women into all areas of our armed services, including combat roles. To date, we seem to have more or less survived the growing feminization of the military. But now we face something the folks behind this agenda probably didn’t count on: a war.

The USS San Antonio, our newest Marine troop carrier, has incorporated a woman’s touch. Electrical systems are lower to accommodate a woman’s shorter frame, and there’s room for lots more toilet paper rolls, since on other ships, women hoard the stuff. The washers are gentler on the women’s undergarments, and there’s more ventilation and light in the women’s bathrooms due to their hair spray and makeup, Time magazine reports.

When this was first revealed, it seemed laughable, absurd, silly. Now, it’s scary.

Stephanie Gutmann is the author of The Kinder, Gentler Military (Scribner Books), and she offers a devastating critique of our increasingly feminized forces. Gutmann argues, “Our armed forces are deeply mired in an expensive, resource-draining, time-consuming, morale-flattening project, one that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with politically correct politics.”

Often, the military has been caught by surprise by problems women present. For instance, no one figured that they would regularly develop urinary tract infections on long desert marches because they were too embarrassed to go to the bathroom, desert style, in front of the men.

Such anecdotes might be funny–except that now they could be a matter of life or death.

Gutmann conducted extensive research, and so she chronicles problems such as rampant sexual activity and sexual tension wherever the services are integrated and, naturally enough, incredibly high pregnancy rates. During the Gulf War, Navy ships like the Acadia and Yellowstone saw almost one-third of their female personnel become pregnant–a fact the Navy was not eager to reveal.

Gutmann reveals how the services use coercive quotas, often promoting women before they are ready, and perhaps most ominously, she documents the extensive double standards that are employed between servicemen and servicewomen in physical abilities and other areas.

This drive to include dramatically more women and fundamentally change the services for them, says Gutmann, has nothing to do with making our military more ready, but it has everything to do with making the military “look like America.” Already such changes, coupled with a decade-old move by political leaders to increasingly use our proud military for what are essentially social services operations around the world, has sunk morale and recruiting efforts.

(Privately, or once retired, so the military’s “gag rule” on such issues no longer applies, servicemen and even servicewomen regularly back up these claims.)

All this does not for a minute mean that America’s military cannot face the task ahead and triumph. It’s just that that task will be harder because many of our political and even military leaders have for too long put social engineering before military readiness.

In the years ahead, there will continue to be debates about the role of women in our armed services. But in the midst of those debates, our political, cultural and military leaders would do well to remember one thing, all the more so given the current crisis: Sometimes America really does have to fight a war.

Thank you for your article on this topic. As we become a courser society, more and more of time proven standards will fall. Clearly, it must have been like so in the earlier years of the decline of Sodom until that city became a pit of only course and perverse ways. No doubt, women there were considered differently than we were taught, when values mattered.

Well, as I can say, my ex-husband(the father of my daughter) is dead, and guess what, that makes me all the more ready to go to the US Armed Forces. I will be glad to serve alongside men and women. It is the greatest honor to hold. Are you honestly saying we should just sit back and be full time mothers, weak and not protecto ourselfs? I’ve come from several abusive relationships. I saw your article in the newspaper and I was outraged to see that they even printed it! People like you disgust me. Yes, as of right now, a woman is the only one that can have children, but it’s not like we, or children are in such short supply that the 15-25% of the Armed forces that are women are going to stop having children, or even die, and wind up leaving us in a lack of procreation. I’m 20 and I’ve had two kids, two marriages, and soon to be two divorces. I dropped out of high school, and I don’t have the means to go to college unless I do go to the US. Armed forces. You know the other reasons why I want this honor, to show my daughter she can be/do anything she wants. That she can take any bad situation and turn it around. And heaven forbid, I die. She will know that both her parents died as heros. Protecting her way of life, her ability to make the choices she wants to in her life, and to protect everybody’s freedom of choice in the United States, and to help bring peace and our way of life to other parts of the world. I see pictures of the kids over there. The trash they play/live in. I hear horror stories of the people, or parts of people they find murdered(yes women and children too so don’t say that they value a woman’s life more). The people that they use as bombs. And, it disgusts me. I see and hear about that from friends that are over there and I want to put an end to it. Some, not all women are weaker than men. I know that I could take down my ex-husband who was 5’10″ and 150 lbs. I’m only 5 foot nothing and 135 lbs. Tell me I’m weak, and come see what I can bench. Tell me I’m weak and ask my parent’s how I’ve had two kids with out pain meds. Tell me I’m weak and you will see that I’m not. Tell me that I deserve life more than my ex-husband, and no matter how badly our marriage ended, no matter how many wrongs he did to me, and I will tell you. His life was worth more than mine. Any guy/woman who has died in combat their life is worth more than anybody elses. You will probably be asking why. Here is the reason why: They died for your freedom, and the freedom of all the other people in the world. They died tring to bring peace and stability to several areas. I’m not talking about just the Iraqi Freedom KIA’s I’m talking about everysingle person in the History of the United States of America who has died for everything that we have today and will have tomorrow.

Ah, but the military exists to fight and (hopefully) win wars AND to advance careers AND for political agenda! It is a reflection of our society and value systems. It always has been and always will be!

In the civil war, blacks were often “pushed” to the front lines because our society accepted that a black person’s life was less valuable than a white person’s. This was a reflection of our societal beliefs at the time. Now, we realize how absurd that belief was!

The inclusion of women in the military is a reflection of the way our society is changing. Women are not just weak, helpless creatures that need to be protected, they are perfectly capable of defending themselves and their country (the gun sure helps). Individuals who want to restrict womens’ roles in the military are quick to point to the negatives – but there have been many positive changes as well.

I don’t believe that men have only two choices toward women; hurt them or protect them!? Instead, both genders in a civilized society ought to respect, nurture, support, and if necessary protect others.

You state that women are the only ones who can have children. You must not be smart enough to realize that it also takes a man to have children!! I’ve served with many women, and continue to do so now. The military is a family, and will always be. I will look out for my female counterparts as much as they will lok out for me. I will support them as much as they support me. I will stand side-by-side with them in arms if the need arises.

By your way of thinking, women should be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen!! How wrong you are!!

Betsy, WAKE UP!! This IS the real world; women and men VOLUNTEERING to serve to protect your rights to make assinine statements will be here long after you are gone.

Thank you, Proud Vet. It helps when a male soldier says it.

Yes, thanks Proud Vet.

And thanks to all the current and past service-men and service-women who make it possible for Americans to freely post their thoughts about controversial subject-matter!

WHAT R WE FEELING SORRY FOR? WOMEN HAVE PROTESTED FOR YEARS ABOUT EQUALITY. NOW U HAVE IT AND DO NOT WANT IT. FEMALE SOLDIERS WANTING TO COME HOME AND DO IN WAR TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. WELL EXCUSE ME BUT LETS JUST POSTPONE THE WAR FOR 1 DAY WHILE U COME HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. YOU SIGNED THE CONTRACT NOW LIVE UP TO IT. NOT WHEN IT IS CONVIENANT FOR YOU. THIS ENTIRE COUNTRY IS GOING DOWN THE DRAIN FAST BECAUSE OF CRAP LIKE THIS.EITHER EARN YOUR PAY OR LEAVE. NO ROOM FOR WEAK INDIVIDULAS. MEN MISS THEIR CHILDREN TOO AT TIMES LIKE THIS. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT BLAME THE OLDER WOMEN IN SOCIETY THAT GOT EQUALITY FOR YOU. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING COMPLAIN ABOUT THE RIGHTS THAT ARE BEING STRIPPED FROM US IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. PEOPLE CAME HERE AND STARTED THIS COUNTRY WITH ARE OLD BELIEFS. SAYING AND THE PLEDGE IN SCHOOL. HAVING IN GOD WE TRUST ON OUR CURRENCY. BUT NOW THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE IMMIGRATED TO OUR COUNTRY THEY FEEL THAT BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE THE SAME BELIEFS WE SHOULD BE CONSIDERATE AND STOP OURS. I HAVE A BIG HELL NO FOR THAT! YOU COME HERE AND WE GRANTED YOUR ACCEPTANCE. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FULLY CONFORM TO OUR WAY OF THINKING. BUT YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT IN RESPECT FOR US LIKE WE DO YOU. WHO ARE YOU TO SAY WE CANNOT SAY PRAYER IN SCHOOL BECAUSE OF YOUR LITTLE ONE? WHAT ABOUT OURS? AND OUR GORVERNMENT AND COURST FELL FOR IT. THE SAME PC EQUALITY CRAP THAT HAS HAPPENED NOW. WE ARE LOOSING WHAT MAKES THIS COUNTRY GREAT DAY BY DAY. SO WHEN WE ARE NOBODY AND OUR COUNTRY GETS WEAKER BY THE DAY REMEMBER I TOLD YOU SO. GO AHEAD AND VOTE FOR A WOMAN OR BLACK MAN TO RUN THIS COUNTRY. IF I HAD THE FINANCIAL BACKING I WOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT AND TOTALLY TURN THIS PATHETIC COUNTRY AROUND. OUR FOREFATHERS WOULD ROLE OVER IN THIER GRAVES IF THEY KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING TODAY. A WOMAN WITH RESPECT IS MADE UP THE SAME AS MEN. MAYBE THE LEADERSHIP QUALITIES ARE THERE BUT THE QUICK AND DECISIVE DECISION MAKING IT TAKES TO RUN THIS COUNTRY AND BE GREAT STRONG ARE NOT THERE. WE STRONG LEADERS IN THIS COUNTRY WHO DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH TELLIG THE WHINERS TO SHUT UP OR MOVE. REMEMBER YOU CAME HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE THE SAME WAY. AND AN AFRICAN AMERICAN RUNNING THIS COUNTRY WOULD BE EVEN WORSE. YES OBAMA SEEMS NICE AND POLITE BUT WAIT. 200 YEARS OF TORMENT WILL COME OUT AND RAIN DOWN ON THIS COUNTRY. BLACK DID HAVE TO FIGHT HARD FOR EQUALITY AND I AM SORRY FOR THAT. BUT TO KEEP EXPECTING AFTER SO LONG. GET OVER IT. SLAVERY HAPPENED, IT WAS NOT RIGHT BUT IT HAPPENED. WE DID NOT PERFORM THE SELLING OF SLAVES. THEIR OWN PEOPLE FROM AFRICA SOLD OFF THE WEAK MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FOR MONEY. YOUR PEOPLE TURNED ON YOU, NO ONE ELSE IS AT FAULT FOR THAT BE YOUR ANCESTORS. I KNOW I HAVE STRAYED OFF OF THE BEATEN PATH BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH IN THIS WORTHLESS COUNTRY. THIS COUNTRY IN A WHOLE NEEDS TO GRAB EM A PAIR AND USE THEM. THE CEO OF THE FALCONS IS IN TROUBLE NOW FOR SAYING IF MICHAEL VICK EATS CHICKEN AND FRIES IN PRISON HE WILL NOT BE THE SAME ATHLETE WHEN HE GETS OUT. I.E. A FAT SLOB. THAT IS ALL HE MEANT. MAYBE HE SHOULD HAVE SIAD HAMBURGER BUT THE POINT IS NOW THE NAACP AND WHOEVER ELSE WILL BE KNOCKING ON HIS DOOR WITH LAWYERS EXPECTING PAYMENT FOR THE HURTFUL REMARKS THAT WERE NOT EVEN MADE ABOUT THEM. THE ONLY PERSON WHO SHOULD HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT IS MICHAEL VICK. QUIT STICKING YOUR NOSE WHERE IT DOES NOT BELONG AND WANTING PAYMENT FOR CRAP THAT HAPPENED 200 YEARS AGO. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT GO TO JOHANNESBURG AND LIVE. FREEDOM OF SPEEC AND PRESS STILL MEAN SOMETHING. IF YOU WANT TO CHALLENGE THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTION THAT YOU AGREED TO ABIDE BY WHILE LIVING HERE, THEN YOU SHOULD EITHER BE SHOT OR MOVE OUT. PEOPLE THIS AND OTHERS IS WHY THIS COUNTRY IS WEAK. TIME FOR CHANGE, TIME FOR BETTER FUTURE FOR ALL OF US. ALL RACES INCLUDED IF YOU CAN GET ON THE SAME PAGE. IF NOT YOU NEED TO LEAVE. I WOULD LOVE TO BE PRESIDENT, CRIME WOULD DROP INSTANTANEOUS. NO MORE WAITING ON DEATH ROW FOR 20 YEARS. AND NO MORE USING LETHAL INJECTION. YOU COMMIT A CRIME YOU MUST PAY THE TIME. DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS FOR DIFFERENT CRIMES. BEING PUT TO DEATH WOULD HAPPEN THE SAME DAY AS THE SENTENCING. PUT FEAR INTO WORTHLESS CRIMINALS AND THEY WILL WALK THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW. RIGHT NOW OUR PRISON SYSTEM IS A JOKE. LETS KEEP FEEDING AND CLOTHING AND LET CRIMINALS GET BIGGER STRONGER AND SMARTER SO THEY CAN HURT MORE OF SOCIETY WHEN THEY GET OUT. A BIG HELL NO! OIL COMPANIES BEWARE. YOU MAY HAVE TO PAY HIGH PRICES FOR OIL, BUT IT IS IN NOW WAY 50-55 DOLLARS PER BARREL. THAT IS WHAT YOU PORTRAY TO THE PUBLIC.MORE LIKE $30 A BARREL. REMEMBER THESE COMPANIES DO BUY IN BULK. WHEN BUYING IN BULK YOU GET A CHEAPER RATE. WITH ALL OF THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY YOU HAVE STREAMLINED THE PRODUCTION OF OIL TO GAS. YES THERE WAS A 1 TIME COST TO IMPLEMENT SAID TECHNOLOGY BUT THAT HAS DONE PAID FOR ITSELF NOW. YOU WILL STOP RIPPING OFF THE PUBLIC. YES IT OK TO MAKE A PROFIT, BUT THAT EXCESSIVE. $50 MILLION A YEAR FOR EXECS A YEAR. RIDICULOUS. DOCTORS THE MILITARY AND OUR HIGH RANKING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS NEED TO MAKE THAT KIND OF MONEY. NOT PATHETIC OIL PRODUCERS. BUT WE AS CONSUMERS ARE AT FAULT TOO. WE ALLOW THEM TO SALE FOR THAT BECAUSE WE PAY. IF THIS COMPANY WOULD NOT BUY GAS FOR 1 DAY, NOT EVEN GO TO A GAS STATION, IT WOULD CRIPPLE THEM. THEY WOULD HAVE TO SLOW OR STOP PRODUCTION BECAUSE OF EXCESS STOCK. THEN THE PRICE WOULD DROP DRASTICALLY. WE RUN THIS COUNTRY, NOT THEM. WE WORK AND MAKE MONEY AND SPEND IT. WE PAY THEM. IF YOU WANT GAS TO BE CHEAPER TRY IT I PROMISE IT WILL WORK. WE NEED A NATIONAL DO NOT DRIVE DAY. GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS.

THE VERY NEXT TIME I HEAR OF SOMEONE LIKE AL SHARPTON OR HIS POSSE SUE OR PRESS SOME ONE FOR SAYING CHICKEN OR WATERMELON OR SOMETHING OF THAT NATURE I WILL TURN THE TABLES. THEY GET AWAY WITH IT AND MAKE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM IT. THE NEXT TIME I GET OFFENDED FROM ANYHTING RACIAL, OR RELIGIOUS I AM SUEING ALSO. BUT INSTEAD OF POCKETING THE MONEY I WILL HELP THE POOR AND HOMELESS OF THIS COUNTRY AND FORM A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION. YOU ARE PRAYING ON OUR FREDDOMS OF SPEACH AND PRESS. THEN NEXT TIME A BLACK MAN ON TV MENTIONS CRAKCER OR ANY WHITE SLANDER I AM SUEING THEM, THE TELEVISION STATION, AND THE PRODUCTION COMPANY. HELL I MIGHT EVEN SUE AL SHARPTON FOR THE SLANDER AND OFFENSIVE COMMENTS. I HAVE RIGHTS TOO LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. BUT YOU SIR PREY ON THEM. MAKE MONEY OFF THEM. NOT ANY MORE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. THERE OUGHT TO BE A TV OR RADIO SHOW OUT ABOUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. IT SHOULD BE RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL AND EVEN ABOUT OFFENSIVE RACIAL SLANDER. THE PROCEEDS GO TO HELP THE POOR IN THIS COUNTRY. NOT SOME WHOLE IN THE WORLD COUNTRY THAT WE BLEW UP IN THE PAST. THAT IS THE ART OF WAR FOR CENTURIES. WHO IS THE BIGGEST AND BADDEST OF THEM ALL. IF YOU GO TO WAR AND WIN DO NOT HELP THEM REBUILD. THAT IS STUPID. ANOTHER STUPID THING IS SOME PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY FIND IT RUDE AND OFFENSIVE FOR OUR TROPPS AND CIA TO INTERROGATE AND QUESTION SO RUDELY AND BRUTALLY. BUT GUESS WHAT, WHERE U IN NAM OR IRAQ WHEN OUR OWN TROOPS WERE BEING MISTREATED AND THE OTHER COUNTRIES VIOLATED THE LAWS OF WAR RIGHTS OF CAPTURED SOLDIERS. I DID NOT HEAR OR SEE U JUMP UP AND DOWN ABOUT THAT. SO YOU CAN SHUT UP. PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE WHAT IS RUINING THIS COUNTRY. WHY DO YOU THINK WE HAVE SECRET ORGANIZATIONS CONDUCTING TOP SECRET BUISNESS? BECAUSE WEAK INDIVIDUALS LIKE YOU CANT TAKE IT. BUT IT THINGS LIKE THAT WHY THIS COUNTRY USED TO BE AHEAD AND HAD RIGHTS AND WAS GREAT. NOW WE ARE GOING DOWN HILL AND LOSING EVERYTHING. LOSING OUR RIGHTS. YOU ELECTED OFFICIALS TO RUN THIS COUNTRY AND THEY ELECT PEOPLE TO RUN THESE ORGANIZATIONS THAT HELP MAKE THIS COUNTRY WHAT IT IS. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM EITHER STOP VOTING OR RESEARCH WHO U R VOTING FOR MORE CLOSELY.

I am writing from northern Iraq. It is my second tour. I’m not going to go into arguing the abilities of women in service. We are (on average) smaller, weaker, and slower. Many of us cannot match pace on long marches with lots of gear on our backs. The point has been made again and again. And the conflicts between motherhood and military service are many – this is why many women choose to leave the service if they become pregant or plan to.

But it comes to this: we constitute nearly 15% of the force. If you look into particular specialties, like medical or intelligence, we constitute a higher percentage. We are vital to the force. You could not subtract 15% of the force. You could not eliminate a yet higher percentage of individuals in specialties which can require up to 24 months of training. These specialties require very high test scores. Many of them also mandate a very high security clearance, which can take up to 18 months to grant, with exacting standards which eliminate all but the most minor legal and financial infractions. If you subtracted these specialty numbers, at the small unit level, you would see a fifty-man unit drop down to thirty-man unit – insufficient to accomplish the mission. It would literally take years to find and train enough qualified men to take their spot.

There are no “front lines” anymore. We women are safer than the guys out on infantry patrols, because on average fewer of us go out with them, from an already small percentage of the total force. But be that as it may, we go out on convoys. Even if we never left the confines of our camp, (and I haven’t yet) there are rockets, and mortars, and small arms fire, and other dangers that simply come from being in a high-intensity operations area.

My point is this, there isn’t some “safe place” you can keep us behind the lines somewhere. And the force can’t handle a fifteen percent reduction. Our deployments have been stretched too far, those of us who were due to leave the service find ourselves involuntarily serving another year or two because our unit deployed.

I guess I turn this all back around on society, as you did. What kind of men and women are we who will not risk anything? Why are we as a society so afraid? Every time I turn on the news, it’s Bird Flu this, economic downturn that, school shooter this, Iran is going to nuke us that. Our forefathers (to prove that I am no Nazi-Fem) did not live like this. They were willing to lay down their lives and their sacred honor, to risk their very necks to start this whole thing. Thousands of patriots have taken the same stand, and paid the price. What does it say about our society when a tiny percentage of us still have the cahones to go out and make our stand. There are those of us who realize, in a very real and practical way, and not in theory, that there are things more important than our own lives, and comfort, and safety.

Those three things are all that our society revolves around anymore.

I posit that as a society we have lost our courage. Maybe part of that IS reflected in the fact that part of the small percentage of people who have chosen to be pro-active, rather than to live in fear, ARE single mothers. Mothers shouldn’t have to be away from their kids. Maybe if a few more men and single women would step forward and sign the dotted line, we wouldn’t have tour extensions, stop-loss, and single mothers at war.

I found this discussion interesting to say the least, I personally have no issues with women serving. The physical standards are different between men and women as I saw one writer point out and she correctly pointed out that it has to do with the physical needs the sex needs to maintain physical tone, also that the requirement were different due to age as well, but the issue (unless I am reading it wrong) is whether women should be serving in the military at all. I for one say “you go ladies!!”. I Was a member of the US Navy and served with both men and women in the early years of my service, there were time I was glad I had a woman backing me up, not because I liked her company and not because she was a woman but because she was a better Sailer and more dependable than most the men I had around me and I needed someone I could trust and count on. At this moment I am A spouse of an Army soldier, my wife’s dream was to join the service and I told her to go for it, she is one of the most respected soldiers in her company due to her hard work, zeal, and attention to details and regulations and she is the one all the CO’s and NCO’s go to if they need it done, done fast and done right. She has set records at being first at a great many things due to her diligence and she has been put in charge of areas and jobs with in the company to where she is telling higher ranking men and women what to do. I am not tooting my horn or rather her horn, I am proud of my wife, but my point is she is doing the job and excelling at it, better than most of the others men and women alike. Women are fully capable of performing the job as it needs to be done.
There are areas of service where women are just not allowed, some have to do with confinement issues such as women serving on submarines ….. I am not going to get into the debate on that. Other areas deal with physical abilities, such as the special forces. Now before you cry foul about that just let me point out that the reason women aren’t allowed in those areas is because you women got what you wanted …. equality. Lets take the SEAL Teams for instance, one point about this …. SEAL Team six was started as a anti-terrorist Group as well as a specialty group able to deploy anywhere in the world (unlike the other teams which are assigned to parts of the world). One thing that someone trying out for this team HAD to be able to do was Bench 500 pounds. That standard was for anyone who wanted to be on the team. Women are excluded from this area of operations because they can not meet the minimum physical standards and the standards are not adjusted for anyone. These standards apply because physical strength and endurance required to do the operations are needed. I should point out that because of this there are also age limitations on applying for the Teams and a training program that has to be accomplished before you can even start training as a SEAL.
I think if women want to be taken seriously that they must be serious about themselves and the job they do.(short story to make a point) I am 43 my wife is 13 years younger than me and her friend is 22 years younger than me. They do PT everyday and I very rarely exercise except for walking. I own a bowflex Machine and decided to workout on it one day and was doing so when my wife and her friend showed up. They got cocky about me (being an old man) working out, so I challenged them to press what I had been working out with. One couldn’t bench it at all the other benched it once but couldn’t stabilize it and couldn’t do it again ……… my point isn’t that they couldn’t bench it but rather when I laughed at them they played the sexist card and replied “ your a man I’ a woman, men are stronger”. Women, if you want to be an equal and want to be treated with respect do not play the sexist card ever. Men will never take you seriously if you do this, to demand equality and then use you sex as an excuse is setting a double standard and a double message.
If the children are a concern …. you need to know the facts before you sound off. Children are effected not by the absence of a parent but by why the parent is absent. Children in the US have more emotional issue over Daddy or Mommy leaving and not knowing why than they do over having Daddy or Mommy leave because they are a soldier. Children are not stupid and a parent leaving and going off to live in another state/town and not calling,writing and visiting sends them a message of not being loved by that parent. A parent going off to war sends them a message that that parent is doing their job and is making the world a better place for them. It is all in how the child perceives the absents of the parent and how those around them reinforce the justness and the love of the parent for the child.
In closing I would like to make one statement and Betsy, you may want to write about this someday ….. rather than debate women in a combat role we might want to look at the situation that has evolved considerably over the past few years that soldiers are viewed as unfit parents in family courts due to their service to their country. US soldiers are losing custody of their children because they are deployed, TDY, or PCS or just because they wear the uniform. In some cases the children are going to unfit homes and to a parent who is abusive and has been a danger to the children in the past. I just think it is a shame that Man or Woman steps up to the job to serve our nation and fight if the need ever arises for our freedoms and rights, but to do so they must give up their rights and children …….. if there is no justice in this country then there are not really any freedoms and if there are no freedoms than what are we fighting for? God Bless our service Men and Women!