MILITARY EVOLUTION

Four military women are suing the Pentagon to eliminate the ban on women serving in combat.

If women want to serve in combat that’s fine with me. I'm not one of those men who feels by serving in combat, women will disrupt the mission. Those men will be less effective in their combat assignments because they'll be more concerned about protecting the lives of the women fighting alongside them.

In the movies maybe, but not in real life. In real life, combat is deadly business and if you're a man who worries about women going into combat with you because they're women, then you have no business being on the front lines.

Women are just as capable in combat as men are. They've distinguished themselves as professionals among the ranks of officers and enlisted personnel. They perform the same duties and carry out the same tasks as men. Critics of allowing women to serve in combat argue that it’s a man's natural instinct to want to protect women. They say that the Pentagons policy is a moral one. Those women aren't strong enough and they have an adverse impact on the men around them.

This myth denigrates men and women in all branches of the service. It suggests that our troops are undisciplined romantics. That the civilian dynamic between men and women interferes with the missions of highly trained military men and women. It doesn't.

I respect the fact that the United States hasn't been a country long enough to come to terms with the fact that women are just as skilled in combat as men are. That's the purpose of the military. To protect and defend the country. Women in the military have been trained to do that.

We don't have a problem with women police officers. Their lives are just as much on the line as their male counterparts. They're allowed to use deadly force if necessary. That means they have the same chances as getting into life threatening situations as male officers do.

The Pentagon is always slow to evolve. Both culturally and tactically. Hopefully a more realistic attitude allowing women into combat will be put into place as a result of this action.