The Case Against Women in Combat

WOW!!! This is such a great debate! We live in a society that embraces mediocrity, makes excuses for fat kids, and takes the competition out of competitive sports. It really makes me smirk. Now, we are still debating about women fighting on the front lines. I am a United States Marine Scout Sniper and let me be crystal clear???WOMEN DO NOT BELONG IN THE FIGHT. I am not going to provide any scientific rationale just the simple truth. Women in general are not as strong as men??? put any woman in a power lifting competition against men, see who wins. Women are not as ferocious as men??? put any woman in a UFC competition and see who wins. Women have too many other problems, whether it is feminine hygiene, PMS, or the fact that they do have to talk about every little problem they have. Men win wars and whether it messes with our heads or not we do the job. Come on people do you really want to see your daughters on the front lines fighting hand to hand with MEN from other countries who will rape, sodomize, and torture them? Should women be able to serve in support roles? Yes. Do they belong on the front lines with us animals???NO!

I'm an OIF Veteran and I'm a female. I was in the recruiting office on 9-11 so I say *** you. Plus if you???re right we are a product of what we've learned we need to integrate woman more into these fields so such reactions and negative effects are desensitized and eliminated. That is why you are a chauvinist. It???s because you look at that research and limit what we can do with it instead of how we can improve society. This is more than the female psyche it???s how society reacts. Your education will unfortunately deceive weak minded individuals to follow your limited view of woman and their potential especially to support other comrades on the battlefield.

First of all, if men don't want to follow women into the gates of hell, then put women who want to fight on the front lines into their own seperate unit so that they won't have to worry about the incompetence of men ruining their mission. Second of all, both men and women followed Bodicca and she was one of the most ruthless generals in human history.

Today's military is biult up not by draft, but from vollenteers. If you joined the military after 9/11 you knew there ws a chance you could go to war. Med need to get over it and realize that females are there to stay, and help them in more ways then they know. Being a female in the military I get the bad looks, and people saying things. Its not going to stop anything..

in basic the girls couldn't hack it. how about a sports team 50% women? women best be in office jobs.clerks,kitchen patrol on bases. i went to basic in 74.

As an NCO in the Infantry I believe that there may be some women that are able to do the job that I do, but not the majority of females have the upper-body strength that is required to perform on the front lines. If women want equality and want the right to fight alongside men on the front lines then their APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) standards should be the same. Except for sit-ups females need to do a lot less pushups and situps then their male counterparts. If a woman wants to serve in my team, she can, as long as she can do everything both physically and mentally that myself and my other Soldier's can.

I agree that women in combat is a bad idea. If women want to be equals, then they need to act as equals. Starting with the physical fitness test. The standards are already lowered to allow women to be in the military. Women are biologically made different than men, but they do have the ability (with a lot more work involved) to make the male physical fitness requirements. So why is the bar being lowered for them? Lowering of bars is anything but equality, it is a free ride. (Does Harvard lower their entrance requirements to people with a naturally lower IQ??? NO- you either work harder and become an equal or you don't go.) The military is anything but an ordinary job. Why should the guy next to you die in his burning humvee because as a woman in the military you do not have the strength to pull him out? A touchy subject, but it needs to be addressed. Strength is important in military operations and every military member deserves someone next to him that can do the job and do it right. So if women in the military think they can be in combat fine, then pull out all the inequalities in the system and make all the entrance requirements the same for everybody, male and female. The females that can adhere to the regular male requirements, by all means, let them be equals, they will have earned it. But as for the rest, they will only be endangering others. There is a reason for minimum standards in a combat zone. (I am curious as to how many current female military members that think they should be in combat can even do the basic male requirements.)

Read a history book. Women have fought across the centuries in many different cultures- from a Royal impi of Zulu women warriors to the thousands of women and some 80,000 men that served Ching yih Saou,the most feared female pirate in the South China Sea who commanded over 1,000 ships. It was European Christianity and Islam mixed with Victorian nonsense and ignorance that forced women into subservient roles- after all, if you have one God, he must be male, right?? The Jews treat women as equals with men in the military and in combat (probably from numerical necessity) but the results do not support the view that women are in any way "inferior". Other comments here referred to the Russians in WWII. This "women can't handle it" garbage gets old.

I find the discussion regarding this issue highly offensive. I agree wtih the comment that perhaps smaller men should be prohibited from combat as well if we are judging off of pure physical prowess. I think woman are just as capable as men of serving in the military and in combat. Yes there are physical differences but surely some women can perform just as well as men. Following that logic, perhaps individuals should be judged on their abilities and NOT their gender.
What I find most offensive though is the suggestion that women shouldnt be fighting in combat cause they "distract" the men. When are we going to stop blaming women for men's inability to control their sexual urges? I find it insulting that we still hold women responsible for men's lack of control. Why is it a females fault that the males around her "just can't control themselves." We need to start expecting more out of men and not hold women accountable for the sexual morality of our culture.

I know that when reading these posted comments that they are all oppinions but it does not change that fact that I am a female in the Army and I cried when I read some of the comments. Is this really about females in combat or females in any dangerous job. There are weak and strong females. There are weak and strong males. It doesn't have to do with gender. Being in a combat zone means serving your country with honor, regardless of gender. When I was a young private there were many men in my unit that could not load a large grenade launcher and I could. There were men who didn't have the strength to carry me but I could carry them. But that doesn't make me better than them because they could outrun me. We all have our strengths and weakness. I believe making a gender issue is ignorant. Yes there are females in the military out there who become pregnant to escape their obligation but not all of us do that. Some out there just want children because they are ready for that step in life. Should we really be punished for one persons mistakes?? Once when I was young, before all this war and death, before I became a soldier, a man asked me why do I think women are not in the infantry?? I gave my oppinion that it is because we are not strong enough!! He then asked me if it is because of our strength or is it because society is not ready to see their daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, wives, and friends bleed and die on a battle field? The world is changing and we no longer feel obligated to be a wife, mother or cook. We have the choice of what we want for our destiny. If that means being a soldier, I think we should be able to choose that destiny. We don't volunteer to go get our legs blow off in Iraq because we want to prove something. Honestly who wants that?? LOL!! We don't even want to go fight a war. Believe me when I say we have no choice in that matter. Most of us just want to give ourselves to a worthy cause. We may not agree with war but it is the honor of fighting for an idea of freedom that makes it worth it. Even if it isn't our own freedom we fight for. It takes all kinds to make a nation. If we weren't all different would we still be the great thing called THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?? Even if it means being a woman in the military!! Before you have an oppinion try to walk in a different pair of shoes next time. I love being a woman in the Army, I am 25 years old, a Military Police soldier, and veteran of three deployments. Please don't take my right to fight for by country away just because of my gender!!!-Just Another Soldier

As a law student and a woman I find it highly offensive that a law professor has written a book that is so inflammatory and sexist. Surely he could be spending his time writing about other worthwhile subjects that would add more to the legal field. I think the biological differences between men and women are nothing compared to the differences we are socialized with growing up. To divide people based upon gender alone ignores our many complexities and differences as human individuals. Surely there are some woman who would out test some men in physical capabilities. Likewise, there are some men who are more nurturing then women. I just think its ridiculous and TOO EASY for us to group people together based on gender alone. Not to mention that its not a very intelligent way of understanding the world. But then I guess alot of the people posting their opinions on this message board are not too concerned with sounding intelligent. So yes, if you choose to see the world divided into men-"subduers" and women-"helpers" then that is your choice. But I choose to believe that both men and women are capable of extraordinary things as people -- and that we need eachother equally.
To that end, if a woman can prove her physical prowess through tests or what have you, there is no reason why she should not be able to fight for her country should she so choose. And as to this argument that women shouldn't be on the battlefield because it "distracts" the men --- I say its time to hold men accountable to control their "urges." Were I a man I would find highly offensive the notion that I was so controlled by hormones that I couldn't respect a female comrade. Women are not responsible for the inability of men to control themselves sexually. Its time we expect more out of men and do away with the idea that "boys will be boys." Its outdated and ridiculous.

I served for a while, with the Marines. If I couldn't do it, they wouldn't have trusted me. And they trusted me. "The glass ceiling" is NOT my fault. Nor are the sexist comments that lace this exerpt. Insert a racial group instead of women in this and people would be a lot angrier than they are on this board. The Armed Services have physical readiness testing for a reason and it's not for kicks.

can a 130 lb woman carry a 220 lb man in full body armor 200 yards in 100 degree heat? then stay out of it?