Military Lifts Ban On Women In Combat

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is lifting the military’s ban on women in combat, which will open up hundreds of thousands of additional front-line jobs to them, senior defense officials said on Wednesday.  The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women have found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, where more than 20,000 have served. As of last year, more than 800 women had been wounded in the two wars and more than 130 had died.  Women have long chafed under the combat restrictions and have increasingly pressured the Pentagon to catch up with the reality on the battlefield. The move comes as Mr. Panetta is about to step down from his post and would leave him with a substantial legacy after only 18 months in the job. Mr. Panetta’s decision came after he received a Jan. 9 letter from Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who stated in strong terms that the armed service chiefs all agreed that “the time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.”

I got a bunch of emails about this story.  Everybody saying that the feminists won.  That our country is fucked now.  I couldn’t disagree more.   Women want to fight in wars?  Knock yourself out.  .  The more the merrier.  Now don’t get me wrong.  If I was a dude I wouldn’t want a chick near my battalion.  Like I’m already risking my life out here.  Last thing I need is a chick driving my tank directly into a tree or gossiping to the enemy about our locaction because they’re on their period.   No thanks. So what you got to do is just have all female units.   Boom problem solved.  That way no dudes have to fight with chicks and get killed because of their incompetence and feminists get to play war.  It’s a win, win for everybody.  Even the government wins.  You can never have enough foot soldiers in a war.  Just dump the chicks out on the front lines and see what happens.   It would actually be kind of funny.