The issue isn't women in combat. Women have always been near or in combat. Women in our U.S. Army have been pushed closer and closer to the front lines of the Infantry in combat by politicians of both parties since the 1970s. In campaigns where there are no front lines women ride in vehicles that get blown up -- but that isn't the Infantry.
When I served, I served in the Air Force, and I served with women. So I never had the pleasure of participating in infantry operations. Nonetheless, I could see problems with women serving in the military. I never have had a problem accepting the competence of women to serve in the military. What concerns me is the competence of men and women to serve together in the military. To pretend the differences between the sexes do not matter requires us to ignore the plain facts of our own character weaknesses. For example, imagine if your spouse was required to serve at a remote location for a year. Would you like your husband, for example, to work in another country on the other side of the world in a unit that includes healthy, lonely, and attractive young women? That in fact happens today, and it adds to the stress felt by military families.
