Saletan, in his zeal to advance his special interests, failed to distinguish between policing and defending.

Almost all nations today have women in their local and national police forces. They are indispensible for sound modern governance.

But policing is NOT defense.

All nations also recognize that soldiers make for bad police (without necessary reculturing and training), and police are not soldiers.

Saletan made a conceptual error which shows lack of understanding of the topic.

Usama, you'd be amazed how strong, mentally and physically, women can be when defending our loved ones and our country. Haven't you heard the anecdotal evidence of mothers being able to single handedly lift a car that had pinned their child down....

However, the point is moot. There were MPs on the base and also she had a male partner. However this individual who was the quickest on her feet, the fastest thinker and the bravest, not to mention one hell of a shot, also happens to be a female, so being a woman (a mother also, as she has a child) is part of her identity. However, whether it would have been a she or a he, this person would still be a hero and is credited for saving lives (the shooter was reloading when she got him).

The morale of the story is that some human beings are just amazing and we deprive ourselves of the best of them by any sort of discrimination on the basis of irrelevant factors (ethnicity, religion, etc etc).

Sorry, but the reason it is called "anecdotal" is because there is no proof to support it.

No one that I have seen is arguing that the MP wasn't a bad ass at her job. So what? Do you honestly believe that being a better cop makes you a better soldier? Could this diminutive woman put a 220 pound injured man on her shoulders and hump him out of a combat zone?

This lady is a hero, she went face to face with a really bad dude and took him down. That doesn't mean she is a bad ass combat soldier. A male soldier can give comfort to a wounded child, that doesn't mean he can give birth. This whole article is so apples and oranges.