I think that the parallels to DADT are not as obvious as they may seem. Despite the amazing progress that women have made in many fronts on equality, they are still physically smaller, slower, and weaker than men. At the very least, one can look at the world records for just about any athletic event, and see how much faster men are. While this does not matter for pilots, or intelligence analysts, or ships captains, it matters very strongly to certain combat arms, such as the infantry. Carrying an 80-pound pack for miles is something where strength does matter. And while some may argue that this can be mitigated by sticking to motorized vehicles, this is not an effective strategy. From Korea to Iraq to Afghanistan, the battles have only been won by getting troops to engage the enemy and leave the comfort of their bases and vehicles, and engage the enemy. This, I think, is the fundamental stumbling block of putting women in the Infantry, or some of the other combat arms.
No comments:
Post a Comment