Why Marines have a problem with women in combat

Article here. Excerpt:

'Some believe the service fired an opening shot in the battle on June 30,when it sacked the head of the recruit battalion at Parris Island, S.C., where all enlisted women are made into Marines. During her year in command, Lt. Col. Kate Germano irked her boss as she pushed for tougher standards for female recruits — and boosted their performance.

Before she was fired for what the Corps described as toxic leadership, abuse of authority and poor “playground skills,” Germano had lobbied for the dismantling of the service’s current system of gender-segregated boot camp instruction.

She thinks the Corps should reinstate its old methods that had men and women shoulder-to-shoulder during basic training, tackling the hikes, obstacle courses and classroom lectures together, as recruits do today in all of the nation’s other military services.

Some Marine women disagree, including a gunnery sergeant who told The San Diego Union-Tribune that “not being around boys” helps female recruits concentrate more on the mission: “It becomes a sisterhood and makes us stronger and prouder.”

What the Corps intends as a separate-but-equal training program designed to reduce distractions between the sexes and instill confidence in female recruits is actually the root of many of its problems today, Germano said in an extensive interview. Those challenges include sexual misconduct, lower marksmanship and physical fitness levels among female Marines, and hostility toward integrating women into ground-combat units.'