Opinion: Combat integration: Not bad, not good enough

Article here. Excerpt:

'The physical standards portion of the Army’s approach is just one part of the deliberate effort to expand women’s participation in the Army. The second component of the Army’s process is a gender integration study of “institutional and cultural factors” and seems to be composed of a series of surveys being administered to service members. This is where the Army’s approach becomes even less clear. In October, all infantrymen were asked to complete an online survey regarding their “thoughts” on the possibility of opening the infantry to women. The survey asked infantrymen to agree or disagree with such statements as:

• Female soldiers expect special consideration for “female problems.”
• Fraternization is unavoidable when a unit includes both male and female soldiers.
• My unit’s ability to coordinate effectively to accomplish our goals will decrease with the integration of female infantry soldiers.
• I believe that some female soldiers in my unit have or would use pregnancy to avoid deploying.
• In your opinion, will most female soldiers be able to perform the following tasks associated with the 11B MOS? (while wearing a minimum of 75 pounds of uniform and individual equipment) Engage targets with a .50-caliber M2 machine gun. Lift 153 pounds and carry 10 meters.'