On the Reality of Combat

[SQUEE]

86. I have not once in my post said a female should not be in combat.

just not in specific combat arms, most specific ly light infantry, the field I am most knowledgeable in from my MOS.
A '60 is the M60A1 known as the "pig" it is a so called Light Machine Gun. so called because weighing in at approx 25 lbs empty that is a misnomer to us poor bastards that hump them and the prodigious amount of ammo they require.
The basic load out for a foot soldier has always been about the same going back to Roman times, any time weight is saved in armour or weaponry, it is filled with ammo or provisions. We have been doing the war thing for a long time and the trade off points are well established and written in stone.
I addressed your points on the extreme amount of conditioning required for almost any female to earn her place, and continue to keep it. It is brutally hard for a male to do it for extended periods, 8 years of it wrecked my knees my elbow and right shoulder and I was a stocky and athletic teen, hence my being given the responsibility of primary gunner in a fire team.
In terms of pure math and reason it makes no sense to fundamentally change the structure of our combat arms to merely degrade our effectiveness.
The major argument for a change is the loss of advancement opportunities in the ranks, and i also addressed this. I have seen and actually fought beside female soldiers, many were warriors, many were not JUST LIKE MALES.
I am sure this will be taken wrong, but what the hell, your post shows you really have no idea what we are discussing, At this exact moment females are in combat zones, and have fought in combat, in MOSes that are not the same as the one I come from. They have served with honor, and shame. They have succeeded and failed, they have been wounded and they have died. They are in combat now, almost exactly like males. the difference? they are not being recognized due to an institutional disdain from the established 3 combat arms for the other specialties That is the change that needs to be made, not to lessen our effectiveness at the unit level for a simple gesture.