Should Women be allowed to serve in hand to hand combat in the military?

I vaguely recall a situation in Iraq where Brit soldiers actually afixed their bayonets and charged an enemy mortar position across a road. Hacked the living **** out of 'em, saved some ammo. But, it is very rare - actual hand-to-hand fighting.

My vote would be for; no women in combat or front line stuations -- period.
 
Nor in mine. However, are you going to tell any woman that she can't do the job she chooses?

I'm not saying we should force women into hand to hand combat, any more than we should force a woman to have an abortion or not. But if the woman chooses that path for herself and is able to pursue it, I say more power to her.
 
A huge truckload of wrongs, johnson. Just because a person, especially a woman, wants to fight don't mean they can. There is a very small percentage of women that can actually throw a baseball the proper way.
 
With all respect I think the situation I posed would be much more prevalent then the one you present.........

Hell they even lower the fitness requirements for females in the army so they can qualify.........
 
Clearly not physically equal. Men are stronger for one. Could a women haul a 15 kg sack as easy as her male counterpart? Why do you think that in all sports women's and men's events are seperate?
 
I apologize if this message is off topic - I am trying to give a broad group
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I am not suggesting for a moment that there are not certain women in this world that couldn't open a can of whup-ass in a New York minute. I am just saying that in my opinion the woman was placed on this planet for higher reasons than brawling with warring men. I do not want to go toe to toe with a woman from any country trained or not. In my world, even my enemy should respect the place of our women as I would theirs. Of course, it is getting more obvious every day that such ideals have fallen by the wayside.

I do not want my precious little neice (who just lost her two front teeth :xlove: ) to ever know the hell of war. Neither do I want my daughter, daughter-in-law, mother or any other woman for that matter to ever be put in a position that they have to get down in the mud for a cause so beneath them. Like the King on a chess board, they should ALWAYS be protected first. Black belt or not.

All of that being said, let us not forget this. A 90 pound, blue eyed, frail little girl who is intelligent and properly trained, can track and mark and execute enough fire power to take out an entire city all the while sitting at a nice, cool, firecontrol console....drinking a cup of hot java 150 miles away from the fight. Not even the meanest marine could accomplish that in any hand to hand situation. Food for thought.

Just my old dinosaur opinion mind you. :rolleyes: Don't get me started or I'll tell you how many miles I used to have to walk to school. :p
 
But we shouldn't turn our backs on those women that have the physical capability to make the grade, should we?

I say let common sense take over.

...and as far as old-fashionedness goes, I'm extreme - particularly these days where pacifists seem to rule the roost.
 
I am the first to admit that many of my views are outdated. But I am the kinda guy that still opens the doors for ladies, I buy my wife roses at least once a month, I never use foul language in front of women and I think they should be put high up on a pedestal and protected at all costs. That will never change in my mind.

But the good news, I suppose, is that people like me will be dead and gone in 20-30 years and you young ones can have it all to yourselves. Your gays can get married, you can buy your herion at the liquor stores, your ladies can go and fight your wars and even make your livings for you without us old codgers looking down our noses at you. We old farts wiill be out of your way. We've had our turn at running things and I am not so sure we did such a bang-up job ourselves. I wish the younger generations better luck.

But until then, you're just gonna have to deal with us I suppose.
 
Ditto....

There are some advantages being born male and some disadvantages too. I would prefer to personally stand in the face of danger before I seen any of my loved ones stand there. Male or female.

But, like 100% of the people posting here, I did not determine my gender at birth. Fate born me a male. I accept that. I also accept the responsibilities, as taught to me, that are expected for me to be a man. I just don't feel that we, as a society, should include the responsibility of hand-to-hand, blood and guts fighting, to our women. They are far too important.

But I am the first to admit that my thinking on this matter is a few decades behind the "progressive" liberal viewpoint. But if that's progress, I don't want any part of it.

If society prefers, I would be happy to just bow out and spend my autumn years fishing on my pond and keep my opinions to myself. Life is just to short to spend in political turmoil.

With the exception of this forum here, I generally do keep my opinions to myself. You all know what they say about opinions anyway. I can't imagine why mine would be any different. :rolleyes:
 
Even though you think I am Nazi Truthsayer I kind of like a little of your thinking.......I guess we are both old fashioned and not politically correct.........
 
Well, I knew once we got past the boring ritual of calling each other a "liberal" or "facist" we would come to terms eventually.

Being new here, if you recall, any opinion of mine that was a foot or two to the left of yours resulted in redicule from you. Thus my retort to you for your opinions that were a foot or two to the right of mine. It's bad enough that I catch hell from the left but when the right starts in on me, :cry:

I never really thought you were truly a "facist" but was merely trying to drive home a point. If me being six inches left of you made me a liberal then you being six incheRAB right of me made you a facist. Turnabout is fair play. Looking back, that was kinda silly. But as they say, two wrongs don't make a right. So, for my part, I go on record as apologizing to you for that.

I kept telling you I wasn't, by any shape form or fashion, a "liberal" in any sense of the word. Although I do admit I do lean left on a FEW issues. But not on the IMPORTANT ones. But do we all not have that right to be free and independant in thought without fear of redicule?

I may be set in my "rightwing" (for the most part) ways but I am the kind of righty that defenRAB the lefty even if their views are warped (in my opinion). To me, that's freedom. I love America and I love freedom. Even if it works against my views. I do not want the responsibility of dictating to society how they should or should not be. If anything, I would prefer to lead by example rather that dictate.

What say we start over? :xhoho:

With Mr. Missouri gone, I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

Liberalism is not a disease anymore than conservatism is. United we stand, divided we fall. It's the yen and I am the yang. All coins have two sides. I live as a conservative. My neighbor lives as a liberal. Either of us would watch the others property in the absence of one or the other. That's the way it should be. That's what makes Americans the best people on the planet in my humble opinion. It really bothers me to see others not realizing this. But I'll survive because I AM AN AMERICAN!
 
The whole title of this conversation is misleading. No one 'serves in hand to hand combat.' If it gets down to hand to hand, you pull out your knife and try to stick it in somebody before they do the same to you. Now if they're asking should women be allowed to serve in combat positions (ie infantry), then I'd vote no in a heartbeat. Not because of the physical limitations of women, but because of how they would fit in on the battlefield.
 
I'd be interested to hear what the women on this forum think. I still think it's up to the individual to decide for him/herself what type of job they'd like to do.
 
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