Free Republic

The story of PFC Jessica Lynch in Iraq has revived the long dormant custom of training non-combat troops to defend themselves in battle. This was because, for the first time in many years, American army non-combat troops found themselves under fire during the Iraq campaign. Over the last twenty years, combat training for non-combat army troops has declined. Since 1978, U.S. Army basic training for men and women has been combined. This has led to a steady lowering of basic training standards so that the women can keep up. When basic training was all-male, it was pretty rugged, the idea...