Clarification: The item to which you've linked here was dealing with a former Air Force combat pilot criticizing Rick Santorum’s views on women in the military.
I disagree with the combat pilot's criticism of Rick Santorum. I agree with her being able to serve as a combat pilot. I'm fully aware that combat pilots can be shot down and have horrible things happen to them. If the woman wants to take that risk, that's her choice.
I'm not sure what “women in the front lines” means anymore considering that we no longer have fronts in modern combat and virtually everybody is a potential target — even, as we found out on 9/11, people wearing Class A uniforms at duty stations in the Pentagon, along with their secretaries who in some cases were burned alive in their offices.
You will not find me supporting women in infantry positions or other roles which require brute physical strength as an ordinary requirement to perform their regularly assigned duties. That would be a significant misunderstanding of my views.
Yeah, but it's not just her risk. What about the S&R guys who will be dispatched to pick her up, usually where the action is hottest? What about her wingman, who will fly cover for her until the S&R arrives? What about the mission that doesn't get accomplished because she's been splashed?
Women (generally) do NOT have the upper body strength to handle the high-G maneuvers necessary in a combat aircraft. Granted, she flew 'hogs... not exactly F-16s performance-wise, but a beautiful machine in its own ugly way. But a SAM doesn't turn more slowly just because you're a woman and can't maintain your break...