I understand your viewpoint, but my Caveat before I continue: I have never been in the infantry, never commanded or given orders in that environment, never participated in planning, etc. This is all just what I form my opinions on from a lifetime of reading on military literature of all stripes. So I could be completely off base here. Also, I apologize if I am preaching to the choir on this./end caveat!
I look at this (as I think it should be looked at) from an “averages” perspective. That is why the curves I posted deal from an averages perspective...when in a combat situation, that (averages) is what the movers and shakers have to go on from a mission perspective, because they have to make assumptions about things, IMO.
They have to be able to assume that in a given unit, if it hasn’t been burnt to a crisp in high intensity or duration operations, that it is going to be able to react a given way, and that if there is a unit with X amount of casualties, people will be able to perform certain tasks and duties without consideration as to the makeup of a unit. (assuming it is an infantry unit and not a support unit, for example)
If a male in an all male artillery unit is a casualty, out of 99 men left, they can assume that one of those men can step forward and do many of the jobs another man can do. Granted, they may not have the specialized knowledge of the man who is the casualty, but they should be able to do (on average) the physical job other men do. Carrying litters or doing a fireman carry on an injured comrade, transporting ammo, digging fighting holes, engaging in hand to hand combat, etc.
It is obvious to me that that is an impossibility in mixed gender units. You couldn’t take five random people in a mixed unit to transport ammo, for example, because if three out of those five people were women, there are some women who simply couldn’t throw that 50 lb thing over their shoulder or hump litters over mountainous terrain for any length of time, whereas most men probably, on the average, could, at least for a longer period of time. Plus, women do not have as much bone mass, and are weaker, as they get fatigued, they can become casualties themselves by falling or misstepping...fractures, sprains, etc. (This has been well documented that it is an issue in a study by the USMC back in the nineties that looked at training casualties among women compared to men, and the difference is quite stark.)
But just as bad, IMO, is thhat puts unit leaders into a position of saying “I need John, Rich, Steve, Dave, Harold, to hump this ammo.” (A pretty scutty job, can’t imagine anyone likes that.)
But the unit leader doesn’t even look at Sue, Cathy, Betty, Ethel, and Grace, because...they can’t carry as much, and...you gotta get the ammo there.
So the guys do it. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t foster resentment. Plus, if it is combat, that would leave proportionally more females manning the perimeter. If it gets into a situation where the enemy pours into the holes, and there is a higher proportion of females defending...that is going to be an unequal fight.
And so on. Sigh. This is insanity. And it is going to cost us.