Women in combat is a never-ending and probably unresolvable debate but since everyone has an opinion here's one from a woman veteran of 22 years...which will exclude the physiology debate of upper body strength versus lower body strength.
The movie "G.I. Jane" has probably generated a lot of discussion in this realm - but not every young female out there has either the motivation or the stamina to play the Demi Moore role - which is much more fiction than reality based.
My honest opinion is that it is not necessarily a male-female thing even though society portrays it that way. I have known some pretty weak men who wouldn't protect the back of their own mother in a crisis or combat situation and some strong women who would go to the wall for a total stranger in the trenches - and vice versa. Many women are excellent shots with pistol,carbine and automatic weapons, many men can't hit a cow with a target painted on it. Women pilots can handle some jet fighters better than men and male pilots can handle heavy bombers slightly better - both are about even in choppers. But when it comes to the trenches, fox holes, covert operations, guerilla warfare, etc., I think it takes a particular personality type - almost on the edge of a pathological one to even want to become a trained killer. This can have appeal for both men and women but hopefully very few. On the other hand survival is strong within both sexes and I would count on whomever was trained, schooled, and had the skill and cunning to get me out of any hostile situation - more often than not brains not brawn make better survival material. And history tells us that hundreds of women have experienced varied forms of "combat" more so in Europe than here. But then men didn't head west in the pioneer days alone, women were experiencing the same trials and tribulations from hostile Indians to wild weather. To say that women should not be in combat because they can't act like men is like saying they shouldn't be in major league baseball because they can't spit, scratch and rearrange. If they can throw from right field to fist base is what counts.
But I digress - the point is rather moot given the technological nature of future wars - little will be done hand to hand and a lot will be done in the realm of virtual reality, computer and satellite arenas, and probably robotics. The gut slitting, bayonet stabbing, and grenade tossing will be minimal - and if each branch of service wants to maintain it's own little group of cutthroats then let it be an equal opportunity band - I seriously doubt that too many women will apply. - and of course the religious right, the aging suits in congress and the anti choicers will hue and cry so loud it will never happen.
Meantime if there is another conflict I think the one with the most electronic toys will win and we both know either sex can handle computers, VRML, Virtual Reality, multimedia, Mars sojourners (invented by a woman), satellite tracking, robotics, unmanned aircraft, tanks and ships and computerized combat simulator software.
Hope this gives you another perspective from an older female veteran - who when on active duty could shoot the o's out of a coors beer can at a hundred yards, could fly a twin prop plane, flip a 200lb guy with a judo move and scrape bodies off the flight line from a plane crash without blinking an eye...but that doesn't mean I would have wanted to be a SEAL- or a Green Beret - or Hercules - but then Xena has some potential. just joshing.
The reality is that women should be allowed to apply for and attempt to qualify for any position in the military. History has shown that they can perform well and that given the right training and environment they can work together...in any profession!
Real women have saved lives, gone in to space, fought wars, invented, financed and designed everything from nuclear fission to radium, and from DNA to COBOL. Real women have overcome as many, if not more, obstacles and hardships than have men. Women pioneered, starved, reigned, battled, spied, strategized, and taught, doctored, nursed, reared families, started churches, and won political rights, yet few magazines, books, movies and television productions tell these stories. It's not a gender thing, it's not a sex thing, it's not a strength thing - a highly trained, highly intelligent, strongly motivated person can do any job the military has to offer - and do it well. After all, the Amazons didn't cut off their breasts any more than the Legion of Thebes cut off their testicles - and both groups won battles galore!
Captain Barbara A. Wilson, USAF (Ret), MA, MBA
"The best part of waking up - is knowing you're alive!"
Absolute Oxymoron - Military Justice
