[Diana in Wisconsin]

Phyllis is 'round the bend on this one. She's normally less shrill and strident, so this one must be smackin' her between the eyes for some reason. (Daughter, Niece, Daughter-in-Law in the military?)

We have an ALL VOLUNTEER MILITARY. If you're a woman with toddlers (or if you want them in the near future) don't VOLUNTEER to enlist in a combat unit! The military isn't FORCING these young mothers into combat; they willingly signed on the dotted line...and took the pay and benefits, college tuition reimbursement, enlistment & re-enlistment bonuses, free healthcare, and the paid delivery of their children while they were on duty should that be the case.

There are hundreds of jobs in the military that don't involve combat, and never will unless we're in WWIII when it'll be 'All Hands on Deck.'

As a female combat veteran myself, these pieces never hold water for me. What's the TRUE AGENDA behind not wanting women in combat? Not wanting women in the military at all, which is where Phyllis is coming from. She can be a real 'Anti-Woman Woman' when she puts her mind to it.

Does she rail against female police officers and firefighters? How about female EMTs or First Responders? What's more dangerous than that? (I don't know; just asking, because I don't recall her opinion on those jobs; and the military IS a JOB for all intents and purposes.)

Well written article, though. She supports her assumptive* arguments well, and the average Joe & Josephine that have never served would easily swallow it. ;)

* 2. assumptive - accepted as real or true without proof;

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/assumptive

[nicko]

excellent response...one of my 60 gunners in Mogadishu was a young woman, Susan Kay, from Fon Du Lac, Wisconsin...she always had my six...must be something in the water up there...thanks for your service-

[CO Gal]

I personally rail against a female in ANY job where the standards of performance have to be lowered in order for her to obtain that job. I don't want someone who is visually impaired to fly an airplane, I don't want someone who is intellectually inferior obtaining admission into a medical school, and I don't want someone compromising our military because it makes the feminist happy.

[dakine]

"free healthcare"

Lost me here....

[Meldrim]

"There are hundreds of jobs in the military that don't involve combat, and never will unless we're in WWIII when it'll be 'All Hands on Deck.' "

Is that your personal guarantee? This thinking is the reason our aircraft carriers have become floating whore houses...

[Meldrim]

"What's the TRUE AGENDA behind not wanting women in combat?"

The real agenda is to have an army capable of fighting a ground war on the scale of Pusan or Tet; that's Duncan Hunter's agenda anyway.