This might seem hard to understand, but soldiers living in combat conditions for even a few months become very rowdy. Discipline tends to break down, except for that which the soldiers can easily figure out for himself to be mission critical. Commanders also do not want to prosecute their best soldiers for anything that is not mission related. The mission is what holds the units together (and of course friendships). Petty rules and procedures slowly get tossed aside. Soldiers tend to break rules. The longer soldiers live under the threat of death, the less important the petty rules become. Under such conditions, soldiers become barbaric animals, and proud of it.
I can not tell you how many times I've seen on army bases signs that read:
"NO INFANTRY ALLOWED"
Having been on both sides of those signs, I can tell you those signs were there with good cause.
Don't tell me about rules and discipline. I've been there. Most of them are to prepare the soldier for the real thing. But few of them rules last in the real thing.
What you going to do first sergeant, shave my head and ship me to Viet Nam?
Fine with me. But if rules can be broken with impunity, that goes for both men and women. You either enforce the rules or you don't. If we don't enforce the rules, then we shouldn't expect everyone to follow them and we have no right to expect discipline and order in the military. That goes for women in the military as well.