Women in Combat

Last January I did a post titled "Women in Combat" in which I quoted from a piece written by an attorney and combat veteran of the Iraq war named Ryan Smith who explained why the Obama administration's plan to integrate women into combat units was a thoroughly bad idea. The post elicited a response from a student named Dustin who wrote this:

As I was reading through Mr. Smith's article about women in combat I found myself agreeing with every point that he made. I am also a combat veteran with a tour to Afghanistan and when I first heard about the integration of men and women into combat units many of Mr. Smith's points entered my mind. I have no doubt that there are plenty of women that can meet the physical requirements of being in a combat unit. This does not, however, mean that they would be able to mesh properly with the men in their units.

"Combat effectiveness is based in large part on unit cohesion," and the combat effectiveness of the military that has worked for well over 200 years would be damaged by integrating men and women into the same combat arms units. I have seen and experienced what can happen when women are merely attached to combat arms units. I was disciplined following a mission because a female military intelligence officer was offended that, while in a vehicle, I had to urinate and I used an empty water bottle in her view.

Animosity towards women can also build up because of the special treatment they can receive. Co-ed showers were not allowed on our combat outpost so we had one shower dedicated to men while the other was dedicated to women. It greatly frustrated the men that we always had to wait in line while the women, who were much smaller in numbers, came and went as they pleased. The biggest issue that can come out of men and women serving in combat units together, in my opinion, is sexual desires. It could ruin a unit's cohesion if sexual relationships developed between men and women that could turn friends against friends.

I am now off of active duty and in the Pennsylvania National Guard. I received word that my unit will be one of the units that are the first to have women integrated into combat arms. I truly hope that I am out of the military before that happens.

The military is an institution maintained to fight and win wars. It's not a laboratory for social engineers to test their theories on how best to structure society. Mixing women with men in combat will not improve the effectiveness of our fighting forces and, as Dustin points out, may well diminish that effectiveness. The only reason the administration is doing it is because it's another step toward the left's dream of complete egalitarianism and the obliteration of all differences between the social roles performed by men and women.