Quote Originally Posted by The Novice View Post
As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps the problem with women in combat is the Puritan hang up Americans have about sex. The idea of mixing up the sexes is foreign to most of us.
This is the whole problem in a nutshell. American men, especially, are taught that women are fragile, needing to be protected, unable to think for themselves, the whole phony bag of crap. If we stop segregating kids, let the girls and the boys play ball together, let them grow to understand and respect one another and teach the boys, especially, that women are not JUST sex objects, then the majority of the problems of having women in combat will disappear.

Now my problem with women in combat is I was taught, by my single mother and 2 older sisters that women should be protected. So as a leader ordering a women into a situation that would put her in harms way would be difficult for me.
But if you are trained to understand that women are just as capable of protecting themselves as you are your attitude would be different. And I would hope that ordering anyone into such a position would be difficult. Yes, it has to be done, but it should never be done callously.

I was in the infantry and most of the men I served with did not like the idea of women in combat.
Again, this speaks to their upbringing, a fault within themselves and not within the women.

So they should be trained the same as men to deal with it, and those that can not should be removed from the service, just like the men that cannot handle it.
Yes. True equality. Assign tasks that match up with their skills. You don't make the clumsy dork, who can't find his ass unless he falls on it, into a sniper!

A major problem with the military leadership is the question of how to deal with women being captured by the enemy. But again, much of that problem is in our puritanical, Victorian upbringing. I would hope that any female combatants which our forces captured would be treated fairly, just as male combatants. And we should expect the same for any of our forces who are captured, and be ready to bring down the condemnation of the world on those who fail to honor that ideal. Including our own.