Should Women be Combat Soldiers in the Military?

This could presumptuously be a controversial subject, but I'm curious about what the majority thinks, nonetheless. Personally, I think the physical fitness level in the United States of America has fallen to a ridiculous level, when concerning the majority. I've seen the headlines, read many of the posts, and even written my own, several years ago when I'd view articles - online and in the newspapers - way back when titles like "Americans are too fat to fight" was quite common. It is a shame that the training regimen had to be lowered out of desperation, but that's another subject entirely.

Should women be allowed to be combat soldiers in the military? Hell, should they even be allowed in the military? To me, this is definitely a 2-part question as I think women have the right to join, but I really don't think they belong in combat. As much as the media tries to push the "universal gender" crap, it simply isn't true outside of a few, rare exceptions. In general, men are still men and women are, for the most part (Ha!), women. For the guys out there: If all hell broke loose in a bar, would you send your girlfriend or wife out to protect you while you hid behind the bar stool? For the girls out there: Would you take up arms and get in a gun or knife fight in your front yard just to protect your man while he hides in the closet? Poor examples, I know, but they were still examples...

Then, there is the "fairness" cry, and how we all have the right to be in any position we want to be, no matter what our gender is. Maybe I'm blind to the X & Y chromosomes or perhaps I'm just plain stupid, but I could have sworn that men and women are two different types of humans. I never knew they had the same qualities that could be shared in such a linear fashion! Why don't men start having babies, instead? Even transvestites have trouble convincing me what they are because I can usually place a gender that they either belong to or should have been. In fact, some women are tougher than some guys, but that doesn't mean I think it is right to lower the standards in training just so all women-like men or manly women can pass the tests!

What is the deal? I went online and did a couple searches, and seen that this was definitely a big deal. I'll give an example of both sides in this debate... An amusing quote from a randomly-searched-for comment field stated: "In physical fitness tests, very few women could do even one pull-up, so the Air Force Academy gave credit for the amount of time they could hang on the bar. Female cadets averaged almost four times as many visits to the medical clinic as male cadets. At West Point, the female cadets’ injury rate in field training was fourteen times that of men, and 61 percent of women failed the complete physical test, compared to 4.8 percent of men. During Army basic training, women broke down in tears, particularly on the rifle range." Source = nailinthehead.hubpages.com/hub/Should-women-join-the-military

Another decent resource for this subject stated for the other side: "Women make up 14% of the 1.4 million active military personnel. Whether they fire a weapon or not, they've been targets of the enemy, just like their male colleagues. 'The reality of today's battlefield is that all who serve are in combat,' said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee and supporter of the change." Source = www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/23/women-combat-pentagon-panetta-military/1860269/

I could ramble on and on, but I'll save that for later, most likely. If anybody thinks that they know for a fact whether or not women should be allowed to be combat soldiers in the military, feel free to chime in on this debate. Holla!

Image Credit: Bing Image Search using the 'free to use & share' function. Source = www.flickr.com/photos/thenationalguard/4641707180/

---End of Post "Should Women be Combat Soldiers in the Military?"


Recent Blog Post: "Grappling is Overrated because of the MMA & UFC sport?"