Letters: Women in combat will lower standards

As Kathleen Parker noted in her Dec. 9 column (“The few, the foolish”), a recent study found that all-male Marine units outperformed mixed-gender units in 93 out of 134 ground combat tasks. So while allowing women in combat positions will give them the equal opportunity to serve, they will not have an equal opportunity to survive, since they have 40 percent less upper-body strength than men. A few women will be able to meet the strength requirements and may survive.

There probably can be found a few women strong enough to play in the NFL, but not many. If they were allowed to play, the “equal opportunity” drum beaters would demand that the rules for tackling and blocking be amended to “level the playing field” so more women could play.

This same scenario will play out when very few women volunteer or qualify for front-line combat roles. And the military, as it is prone to do, will “adjust” the physical requirements to permit more to enter.

As one who has commanded front-line troops in both Korea and Vietnam, I can tell you that women simply do not belong in those units. They have and can serve admirably in a combat zone, but not on front-line duty.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 2:09 PM.