[El Gato]

How many support male personnel do we have on duty in the USA?

Depends on what you mean by "support". Very few in the Army who are not just back, training to go, or about to go. There are of course slots in R&D, procurement and so forth. Some of them are filled by the walking wounded. Others require a combat arms or at a least operations background. If they don't the job is likely getting done by a civilian, either DoD or contractor, and in some cases even if they do. We have one twice retired guy in the office where I work who has been all three, military officer, DA civilian, and now contractor.

We also have a Captain, male, who lost an eye to a bullet. We also have some female officers and NCOs.

[tlj18]

I would be one of those support personnel (MI). I'm not scheduled to go to Iraq, but my new unit gets rumors all the time that we are going there (usually they are false, but if the Surge continues into new year, I wouldn't be surprised if I get ordered there). As it is, my unit's mission is to deploy to different continents (Europe and Africa). I have thought about volunteering for service in Iraq, if nothing else, serving in a combat zone would probably provide valuable experience. Most people in my MOS that I know (privates mainly) would do everything they could to get out of a combat deployment. Some will directly say they have no intention of fighting, even though they joined the Army. It makes me so irritated and mad when I hear it. Obviously the combat arms soldiers are of different quality. They have to be.

As far as women in combat: NO WAY! In my one year of Army experience, I've met some good female soldiers. But all of them are the type you go to parade rest for. But a lot of them seem to be ala Jessica Lynch (i.e., panicking under pressure, forgetting how to operate a M-16, etc.).

Not the kind of people I would ever want protecting my back in combat. Of course, not that the male soldiers are all great, because they're not. But males were designed for combat, women weren't.