
Wars force US military to review ban on women in combat
Article here. Excerpt:
'WASHINGTON (AFP) – US commanders are taking a second look at policies that bar women from ground combat, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have thrust female soldiers into the thick of the fight.
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Despite a policy designed to keep women away from units engaged in ground combat, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed women in battle with insurgents who do not operate along defined front lines.
As a result, women have earned medals for valor and praise for their mettle.
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More than 220,000 women have fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 120 of them have been killed in the conflicts, according to the Pentagon.
Ending the ban on ground combat will come sooner or later, Nagl said, as it is "simply recognizing a truth that's already been written in blood and sweat on the battlefield."'
Aside from nymphotropism/chivalry, I don't see the rationale (and these are not rationales in any case) for the current policies. There's just no justification.
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About bloody time.
Not only is it fair to men, but putting The Important Sex in harm's way may lead our politicians to be less inclined to go to war - they sure as hell don't give a toss about male soldiers!
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Rise, Rebel, Resist.
Women are still...
Women are still less than 3% of combat deaths and casualties. Until women are truly "in the killing zone" as much as men, it's all just so much talk, so much hot air. Don't talk about it, do it. Shut up, and show me women's ability and sacrifice in ground combat at a level to that of men. It's as simple as that.
If we are "equal" then women
If we are "equal" then women should be dying at the same rate as men in wars. The problem is that if you now put some women on the front line you face the huge dilemma of men who have been taught and bred to be chivalrous who rather than decide what is best for his platoon will be more likely to focus on saving a damsel in distress. How aboug "all women" platoons? Then they will have to save themselves.
manonthestreet All soldiers
manonthestreet
All soldiers should be women up until the time that there is full equality with men for all the previous casualties. So I guess we are looking at a million or so dead women. Not any problem to me.
Justification:
"I don't see the rationale (and these are not rationales in any case) for the current policies. There's just no justification."
1) Combat readiness.
When you deploy, you have to deploy the people each soldier has been training next to for the last few years. Women have this thing they call "pregnancy" that tends to happen just before deployment to a combat zone. This harms unit cohesion and combat readiness.
2) PR.
Let's admit it. Men are disposable while women are not. In any conflict, there exists the public's resistance to the combat. This resistance will magnify when women make up a larger portion of the causalities. Once the rest of the world learns that the US won't commit troops because our public will resist any combat, our armed forces no longer serve as a deterrent to other nations.
3) Battlefield Logistics
True that in our current combat situation we are almost always "close to base" which removes the vagina problem, but we cannot guarantee this for future conflicts. In case anyone is unaware, the vagina problem is that women cannot keep their vaginae clean in battlefield conditions. Due to the construction of the vagina, this leads to sepsis. That means if we ever have another "front line" conflict (like the invasion of Iraq) we will either have to rotate front line women out of the front so that they can have access to facilities to clean themselves or we have to pull these women troops out of the units and again destroy unit cohesion.
4) Psychological problems
Men are programed to protect women. Men do not view women as disposable as men. In combat, sometimes you have to "let them die" in order to save the greater number of soldiers. In naval combat, sometimes you have to pretty much kill your fellow shipmates to save the ship and the rest of the sailors. When men take heroic efforts to save the lives of women, they endanger the rest of the unit (ground battles) or endanger the entire ship (naval conflict). As sad as it sounds, combat functions on the fact that some pieces are disposable in order to win the overall war.
I could go on, but you get the idea. The truth is, for the sake of the military, we need to get women OUT of the military rather than further integrated.
The sexes can never be equal as long as....
The sexes can never be equal as long as male disposability is societally institutionalized.
Institutionalized acceptance of violence against men is America's greatest shame.
Male disposability
Is biologically institutionalized.
And that's why the sexes can never be equal, period.
manonthestreet Men may make
manonthestreet
Men may make better soldiers than women. But that's not the point. They will make some sort of soldier and can die as readily as a man. I don't care if women die on the battlefield. Anyway get some sense. Women may become involved in battle if they choose to enlist but only men will ever be conscripted.
Anyway what are the men fighting for? They are just low grade quasi citizens in a nation that treats them like trash.
If women can fight along
If women can fight along side men then they must be physical equals to men, so there is no need for them to have special laws that protect them. When the ban is lifted VAWA and all domestic violence legisation should be rescinded. It is completely backward to say women are just as capable as men physically to be combat soldiers on the battlefield but are not physically capable of defending themselves from men domestically. When this ban is lifted, it will be offical. Women will be dead. From then on there will be only men.