Women in combat

       Here's my two cents.

            First the good news.

                        At least we're talking about it again.

                        And I have served in combat with women, and the one's I served with were good Americans, and could man a machine gun and burn crappers as well as anyone. And most importantly, they were willing to die for their country and our way of life. And they were from all over the USA, like from Texas to Wisconsin. And even more importantly, they got there on their own.

                        And the first time we were attacked, some men wanted to quickly evacuate the women. For whatever reasons I do not know, but boys and girls are different in many men's minds. Maybe that's why. And integrating the sexes in a military situation is at best a leadership problem for officers through NCO's. At worst it may be an intractable societal nightmare.

            And we all know boys and girls are often a mixture of male and female, like in strength. I know enough female Marines who are pretty strong, to me.

                        I often wonder about our spouses back home while we are on the battlefield with women.  After all, boys and girls do want to get together in our culture, and often do.  It happens. I know, believe me. Like from Denmark to Arabia to Japan. And any hint of favoritism for any reason, including sex, is a quick way to break up unit cohesion. There's enough sacrifice and depravation where I fought without putting up with favoritism. And after a period of time, many females start to look better to many males, and I suppose otherwise. Been there, done that, so to speak. Our spouses are on to something.

            And I buy the idea of let's be equal, like use common standards, including strength, and then go to war with those standards. To me the intent is to win in combat, period. So any initiative that improves our way of war is appealing to me.

            That is my point, mission first, like winning in combat. And as a former recruiter, about anyone who can get in sounded good to me. At the time, decades ago, and we were all-volunteer by then, only 1 in 3 were even mentally, morally, and physically qualified to even be a private. And the entrance standards were equal, though the training standards did vary by many things, to include sex.

            Now for the bad news.

                        Mission first, like winning in combat. So any effort to change standards recognizing that boys and girls are different that also denigrates winning in combat is a non-starter to me. Said another way, please have common standards, and then accept the results.

                        And opinions are like a**holes. We all have one. Even our senior leaders have opinions, and should be listened to.  They are wise in their own ways. So far their opinions are all over the place. To me it is often like their subjective judgment, based on their experience.  And often it is also like just talking past each other. Perhaps each has a piece of the pie, or even just their own experience.

                        And last, like "the bridge too far" idea, perhaps integrating men and women in infantry combat is just too hard to conquer for today's American military leaders and our societal standards.  Maybe it is just a dumb idea. Said another way, boys and girls are different, and the sooner we can exploit that the better. Said even another way, strength is not the only consideration our present leaders need to think about. Better yet, how about maximizing our sexual differences in defense of our Country.  

                        Now that would be smart.