Women in Combat

Let me explain. I spoke to a retired Marine some time ago who told me that in Marine boot camp, they have one set of physical fitness criteria for men, and another for women. For example, there is a point on the "confidence course" where recruits must climb over a wall. The male recruits must start from the ground, but for the female recruits there is a step they may use. Similarly, I just read in the paper that at the military school which has recently been the scene of controversy because a women wanted to enter, the male cadets were required to do 42 push-ups, but she was only required to do 18. By adjusting the standards to allow women to compete with an equal chance of success, the process has been made fair to both men and women.

Clearly, then, all we need do is apply this same type of standard in actual combat. We can simply inform enemy nations in time of war that if, say, they put a defensive wall around a position, they must supply a step that our female soldiers can use to help them get over it. If their machine guns fire 60 rounds per minute when firing at male soldiers, they must fire only 40 rounds per minute at female soldiers. And so on. Of course we would agree that our male soldiers would not attempt to take advantage of any such allowances intended for females. If they failed to make such allowances, we would simply declare that any casualties inflicted on our female soldiers do not count. If we lost the war, we could then take them to court and demand that their victory be overturned on the grounds that they practiced sexual discrimination by failing to make such allowances.