What are the pros and cons of having women in the US military?

As a medic I was overawed when I arrived at Ft. Sam Houston. There were SO MANY WOMEN. It was like some sort of strange paradise. At first. I realized very quickly that every OTHER company at 232nd Medical Battalion was as high as 70% female.. Very quickly as our combat deployment approached, I became increasingly convinced that my company was in for serious trouble..

Nothing was done to quell my misgivings when two females in the unit essentially got to sit out the deployment by becoming pregnant right before the deployment. During the deployment those doubts and misgivings became full fledged anxiety and fear. When we had incoming the women of my company reacted violently. Almost overnight shaking up occurred. Two of the females lead a campaign against one of the platoon sergeants because they were sure he was acting in a racist manner.

I kept my head down and did my job, and tried to be the best medic I could be, but I utterly HATED the FOB. One woman in an Air Force unit we were colocated with intentionally got herself pregnant so she could go home. What really filled me with outrage is after she got her positive results I overheard her saying she was going to get an abortion as soon as she got home...

Later when I was rotated through MEDDAC I was offered an opportunity to go to West Point. The commander at the time put off writing the recommendation until I was desperate. I ended up having to have the acting commander write the review. Both the commander and acting commander were women and the reviews they wrote made me look like the worst soldier they had ever laid eyes on. My interactions with many of the nurses that were commissioned were negative, especially when my manner was rigid and proper when addressing officers, or of expecting clear and concise orders, and tendency to act immediately or advise them that they were making my assigned duties more difficult than they needed to be.

My second and final deployment as a line medic for an infantry platoon was in many ways the experience I had actually joined the army for. I in no way mean to suggest that combat was joyful, but the way my platoon operated was such a relief. I felt more at home than I ever had in any other unit. During that tour as strange as it may sound I was more stressed on the FOB than I was out in sector, and despite losing guys in truly horrible ways, the platoon was closer, and a tighter group of people. Even when we were given nebulous missions and vague orders it always felt like things got done. We always moved with a sense of purpose.

I think the thing that sealed it for me that made me never want to work in a unit full of women again was something that happened in my first unit after my deployment. As so often happens personnel get rotated out. My platoon went from 20% female to 80%. Within a month all but one were pregnant, injured or proved they couldn’t lift a paperweight and one female medic, myself and one other male ended up doing an entire platoon’s worth of details (with myself and the other male doing all the physical work).

Women are wonderful. They can be talented, and thoughtful. When matched to their aptitudes they can absolutely be an asset to rear echelon units. I have met a few that might be able to keep up with the front line troops if they put in maximum effort. I have not met enough of those women to suggest women on the front lines would be anything other than a bad idea. As much as it pains me to say it, with the exceptions clearly in my mind, I’ve met more than enough of the “bad” females to make me seriously question their inclusion in the army at all.

More than once in my career and after I have heard of minor (and major) infractions being ignored because the person was a woman. I have witnessed women get away with talking back and utter disrespect to officers and NCOs and nothing happened. I have seen the corrosive effect it has on a unit when relationships spring up in a unit. More than once I have witnessed one man forced to do the work of three of his women counterparts because they simply didn’t have the strength, stamina, or in one case fortitude.

As harsh and brutal as it sounds, war is not the place you want anyone to be who is not at their absolute best. Your mission is to do things that can and will kill other people. Sometimes they your own, the enemy or innocent civilians. Screw ups are be lethal. It is neither moral or just to try to shoehorn in women into combat roles because of “equality” when the price of putting unqualified people into those positions is measured in body bags.

I've got three men reporting to me at work. I guess I'm doomed.

Well, you should be seeking to live according to the word of Him who created you. Among other things. women can certainly do hard manual labor, and do business with the product if it, and help care for her family thereby, complementing and supporting her husband, if married, (Proverbs 31:10) but they are not supposed be in authority over men (who thus are more severely judged for failure or abuse) in the church.

And the positional headship of the man over the women, (1 Corinthians 11:1-3) whose should seek to treat his wife like gold, applies outside the church.

Which does not mean a women can never tell men what to do under male leadership, (1 Samuel 25:19) and there are Deborah situations in which a women must lead by necessity. But otherwise I think that you should be seeking to function according to God's order.

And I say this as one who has no animus against women in general, much less to helping them which I try to do (like in physical labor, which I thank God i can still do), and to have good relations with them. Nor am in a position of formal leadership, but my position is determined by what the word of God says, not my own masculine-type nature.

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