[HairOfTheDog]

You will see it when the liberals push for more than equal rights for women in combat to the point where women will outnumber men on the battlefield.

That is paranoia. No one is pushing that, and if they did, they would be shot down. We are talking about the few women who wish to choose this as a vocation. This is a volunteer military. There no need, and no push, for drafting women to the point of numerical equality. Only the chance to fight where they can.

And I agree... it is the technological advances of fighting war with big metal machines and remote control devices that has opened the door to women serving on a very level playing field. If we were still fighting war only with swords and maces, we would not be having this debate. We are talking about modern war, with modern demands, that some women are quite capable of meeting. Muscle is not un-needed now or ever, but it isn't the only skill needed anymore.

[skeeter]

I don't think its paranoia. In the early 90's Cpt Linda Bray was credited for being the first woman to lead men into battle by crashing her jeep into a guard compound & spraying the enemy with .50 cal machine gun fire. She was trotted out before all four morning talk shows, and eventually Rep. Patricia Shroeder (D-Colorado) was using Bray as an example of why laws barring woman from combat should be repealed. Never mind the initial reports of here actions were totally bogus.

Though the Army must take the blame for originally producing the exaggerated reports of Bray's heroics, this illustration justified the fear and mistrust of "mob journalism" spreading inaccuracies and blowing stories well out of proportion. The Linda Bray example shows how the media in Panama was often more interested in story ideas that provided sales and exposure rather than ones that provided accurate information.