You jump right in, don't you?
Don't think from what you are about to read that I am against women, hate women, etc.. I am just looking at this issue from a psychological and societal point of view. My overall opinion of this is that I agree with you in that there are som women that can handle combat, just like there are some men that CAN NOT, and that I would not trust in combat.
OK. I read the article in Time. My personal feeling is that if a woman can do the job and take on the role, fine. As I used to say when I was a young grunt; if a woman wants to be in the infantry, fine. She can start by carrying these bipods. The bipods for an 81 mm mortar weighed 45 pounds. That is along with all of the other
gear we carried. All of our
gear plus M-16, Alice and wargear AND the 81
gear would increase a Marine's weight by 60-100 pounds. You want to do it, Great. grab the bipods, get to the front of the column and don't you dare slow down.
The thing that people on the outside, like that journalist, don't understand is that male Marines and soldiers going in to an infantry unit have to prove themselves as well. "New guy, get the bipods. When you get tired you can carry the M-60."
The other thing that outsiders don't understand is that even some male "Remington Raiders" do not belong in the Infantry. I remember guys in my unit that weren't worth a darn and everytime we went to the field they ended up in the safety vehicle because their "feet hurt". I had a guy in my MSG Detachment in Bogota that would hide when we did a bomb search.
In a Marine NCO's fitness report there is one point in there that the reviewing officer has to mark that makes or breaks an NCO's career. "Would you go to combat with this Marine? If it is not marked "Specifically Desire" You're on shaky ground. I have met quite a few women civilians, including one female officer cadet on this board, that I would trust to take into combat with me.
My final point is that even though there are quite a few women that CAN do the job as an Infantryman, there are a lot of Infantrymen that are not ready for them. Not out of jealousy, mind you. This is a western society mindset. We treat women with respect and often times put women on a pedestal.
Men in western society go out of their way to protect a woman. That is how men are raised. Men in Eastern Societies treat women like animals to be bought, sold and beaten. When a woman is in a patrol with men, there is that mindset in the back of our brain housing group to watch out for that woman. That can jeopardize the rest of the members of that squad or platoon. I am not saying that women WILL or WILL NOT get special attention, just that the mindset IS there. This kind of mindset could also be used against a mixed patrol of men and women if the Iraqi sniper on the other end of that trigger wants to use that as a psychological weapon and only target the women in the unit. This could lead to demoralization of a unit also leading to that unit being ineffective.
that is just my take on it.