"The exclusion of women from combat is a failed social experiment. It's time to end it.

The author is making a common mistake when describing the combat exclusion. It isn't a social experiment. It isn't even primarily about keeping women out of harm's way.

The close combat exclusion is a rationale for keeping women out of close combat units at the company and platoon level. The Army has only small problems with women being in the support units of the 82nd Airborne, but doesn't want them in the line infantry companies.

The reason is that they want to avoid the splintering, favoritism, and pairing that goes on inside units with both men and women assigned. The reason for the exclusion is sex, who gets some, who doesn't, and all the problems that goes with it. This is not the fault of either women or men, but simply a fact of life when they live and work constantly together. This isn't an experiment, it is the collected experience of centuries.

It has nothing to do with the likelihood of women dying and only a little to do with performance. It has everything to do with protecting unit cohesion. Sgt Munley did a fine job. But her job didn't require months of endless 24/7 contact with her coworkers. She went home to her family each day.

CMD:

they said the exact same thing about them thar Negro's too. that's your first clue.

What a stupid thing to say.

Exactly how does saying that men and women, under stress, have sex which leads to disciplinary issues is the same thing as racism?

You're not thinking. This guys just said something that challenged liberal orthodoxy so he *must* be evil, right?

After you've been deployed for a few months, knowing that your bunkmates Bubba and Bubbette are getting it on regularly, but that you have an almost *zero* chance of getting any for the next nine months, that kind of starts eating away at you.

Don't ask me how I know.

I agree that sex is a big part of the problem, as is jealousy about not having sex when others are. As much as we would like people to just "turn off" millions of years of evolution, it still plays a part. We are designed to procreate, early and often. And with sex comes pregnancy, how do we feel about pregnant women serving in front line combat?