In a "Red Dawn" scenario (I'm assuming you mean the movie) your presence/assistance would be vitally important.  And welcomed.  BUT, as far as routine military combat duty--NO WAY.  For all the reasons cited above.  We need to respect our women/mothers more anyway.  Sending you to combat on foreign soil is a no go in my book.  You sound capable but that is not the point.  Realities must be acknowledged and dealt with as cited above.  That said, I am delighted there are women like you and my wife out there "just in case."  God bless you.

Every country has their own culture...and where the female fits in. In Alaska, I hear if the first born eskimo baby is a girl,it was terminated. The others include hiding the face under a veil, to staying in the kitchen. But generally women can be in the military but not in the combat role (our culture). However when I was in '66-'69 , a few of the women were more masculine than most of the guys...if ya know what I mean.

The issue I have is that there are now gender based requirements for physical fitness. A 49 year old man with 29 years of combat service has the same physical requirements of a 21 year old female. 49 years old men have about 1/2 the requirements of a 21 year old male... so either you have to be as strong as a 21 year old male or female to be all that you can be in combat... can't have it both ways.

Several problem exist with placing women in combat arms units:

1: People are attrracted to the opposite sex, it works both ways. Having females around is a training distractor in peacetime and a combat distractor in wartime. Peacetime training distractors lead to less effective training, less effective traing leads to death on the battlefield. Wartime distractions lead to lower combat efficency, and that also leads to death.

2: Relationships within the unit. In a combat enviornment having 2 people within the same small unit romanticly involved will distract the two from thier duties, and may also lead them to take risks and make stupid decisions they otherwise would not make... having for whatever reason to leave a wounded comrade behind to accomplish the mission is a bad enough scenerio... imagine if you had to leave your signifigant other behind to accomplish the mission.. emotion has no place on the battlefield. Make relationships within the unit against the rule you may say? It will still happen, it will just be hidden.

3: Females have a much higher non-mission capable rate due to injury and pregnacy(hell, if you have a soldier get pregnant she is basicly non-deployable for a year, but you can't replace her so everyone has to pull her slack). If you can find them (the DOD keeps it quiet) look at how much the pregnacy rate among female soldiers SKYROCKETED duriong the time that Desert Storm was building up- females have a built in get out of war free card.

4: The female body is not built to the same physical standards as the male, they are, on average, weaker, smaller, and cannot carry the same loads for the same distance as the males can. Yes this matters, immensly, lives may be lost becuase of that one belt of machinegun ammo left behind because someone couldn't carry it.

5: The female reproductive system does not take well to extended (2-3 month) periods without showers/bathing, and at some times not having access to any latrine facilities at all for even a week can cause trouble.

6: The type of unit bonding and cohesion needed to surive in a combat situation cannot be formed in a mixed gender unit. When you are worried if any slighly off color remark, or pointing out a weakness in another soldier, may result in a sexual harrasment charge, or kill your chances of getting some action later on, tension exists. Now I know alot of females are going to call BS on this one, but unless you have served in a combat arms unit you cannot really understand what the unit coheision factor I am talking about is, you have to experince it to understand. Those that have will. And before you say no big deal, unit cohesion is a MAJOR deceiding factor on the battlefield and something leaders have to spend a great deal of time to develop.

And finally, the system we have works, DON'T SCREW WITH IT!!!! Why place lives at risk just becuase you don't think it is fair? LIFE IS NOT FAIR, and it makes more sense to keep things as they are and have unhappy females than to put my life at risk just in the interest of "fairness". This profession is unlike any other when it comes down to the risks involved on the battlefield, the slightest inablity leads to loss of life. Possibly MY LIFE!!!

Wish I could have gotten in on this sooner....

garandman,

Your posts *seem* to indicate that you believe that SteyrGirl is advocating women in combat.  In reality, she was asking for opinions, and also playing devil's advocate a bit to flesh out those opinions.  Your point-by-point summary was good, but your post (which is more of an attack) is a bit out of line, me thinks.  Give it another read and see if you don't agree.

SteyrGirl,

I don't think anyone here, even garandman, presumes to doubt your dedication or patriotism.  If I can dare to speak for what I feel is the majority, we're thrilled to have you here and to hear your point of view (and, of course, to share our own).

As several folks had pointed out, in a "Red Dawn" scenario, EVERYONE would need to be fighting one way or another.  You would certainly be both welcome and needed.  Virtually everyone would be ametuers, including myself, but we'd be collectively fighting for a common goal when fighting, and could/would revert back to more normal roles when not fighting.

Professional militaries are another thing entirely.  Though both see combat, many of the associated realities are very different.  Miss Magnum brought up some valid points from her experience, as have others.  I myself believe that the *majority* of the women currently in the military would be (or become) ineffective in combat, as would a few men as well.  Sure, a minority could get the job done, of that I have no doubt.  But it makes little sense to me to train women for combat positions when most of them wouldn't last very long in a real *military* combat situation.  The Gulf War experience tells the truth of this.

Please don't think this is in any way personal.  Men and women each do some things far better then the majority of those of the opposite sex.  Infantry-style combat is one of those things.  That has nothing to do with my level of respect for women, which, like men, is determined on an individual, not collective, basis.

-Troy