[A CA Guy]

As long as they raise the bar for everyone so no weaklings get in I don’t care.

[Bulwyf]

No females in combat.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Not possible. No women would make it, there'd be pressure (as there is now), and they'd pass women in regardless. Unless women in combat units is strictly forbidden as a matter of policy, standards will drop.

Furthermore, there's far more to a strong combat unit than physically strong people. Even if there were some freak-of-nature gal who was physically capable, she would never and could never fit into the brotherhood that holds a unit together.

[rlmorel]

It isn't about individual ability, in my opinion. I made this graph up a while back, and it is true there will always be overlap when comparing two curves like this:

In concept, there are females in the overlapping area not identified with the red hashing which indicates the area where you will not have even the top percentiles of women competing at the same levels strength-wise.)

What it means is that you will find women at the peak of fitness and strength who will be able to compete with men (who are closer to the men's average) strength-wise. (The assumptions are mainstream assumptions made by health care and industry based on peer-reviewed research. The graph is not exact, but it is based on the peak that a female can achieve is always going to be 25 percent below the peak a male can achieve, all other things normalized. That is accepted knowledge as well.

But when you go further to the right of the average for men, you will find fewer and fewer women who have strength. Then, you reach an area, where you will not find any women at all who can compete with men. (Think Rangers, SEAL, Delta Force, or men in other jobs who work out.)

So the issue isn't about individual strength of one person, it is about everything else associated with a mixed gender military. The bifurcated parts of the supply chain, the need for separate facilities for privacy, the increased injuries women encounter doing work, the pregnancy issues, and the general issues of putting men and women of childbearing age together in dangerous environments far from home, and the resultant decrease in morale due to all things associated with that.

I am not in favor of raising the bar and saying anyone can do any job they want if they can get over the bar, because it doesn't address any other of those real issues.

This in no way means women cannot serve our country honorably. They simply should not be on combat naval vessels or serve in front line combat units where that red hashed area in the graph above can make the difference between saving a sinking vessel or winning an armed engagement, and the PC benefits are insignificant in comparison.