This is fundamentally illogical. We need to find ways to put wormen in combat in ways that don't endanger them? What? Combat is by its very nature dangerous, and the idea that it could be made "respectful" or not dangerous is madness.
I am a woman--a tall, strong, athletic woman who takes care of 1400-pound horses all day, handles firearms, power tools, tractor, and performs heavy farm maintenance jobs. I chuck 80-pound bales of hay and 50-pound grain sacks around every day. But my son, who is an active-duty warfighter, could pick me up in one hand and break me, if he wished. Men are stronger than we are. It doesn't make any difference how much we train and work out. They are just made differently, with bigger bones and muscles that respond better to stress than ours do. We can be strong in other ways. Being respectful has nothing to do with it and won't alter biology.
There are certainly some jobs in the military that women can perform admirably. I know male computer scientists in the Marines, and that, along with many other non-front line tasks, is a way women could contribute. But to have my son and his comrades endangered because they have a relatively weak person in the unit is not acceptable, no matter whose feelings are hurt by the exclusion of women.
I am compelled to wonder how much experience with firearms and survival situations you have. You could not write about the ludicrous concept of respectful and non-dangerous combat if you did.
We made the same argument. However, yours is profoundly more pertinent than mine because you are a physically capable female as well as the mother of a son who one day might be required to rely on a female in combat.
Well said, and BTW, these are not infantrymen. They are infantry LEADERS; not the lead from behind kind.