Right wing web site EtherZone.Com recently published a long rant against women in the military that was bizarre even by EtherZone’s standard. William Shields argues that not only should women be excluded from combat, but that they should be barred from military service altogether.
Shields peppers his rant with obnoxious non-sequiturs like this gem,
. . . They used to sum it up so:
“Ladies and gentleman, we train these Marines with the knowledge that the very survival of our nation may, some day, depend on ONE Marine. We promise you, HE WILL BE READY!”
I don?t know what they say at a graduation ceremony for female marines. Maybe something like, “we promise you – she won?t be menstruating!”
In fact Shields never really bothers to make an argument, preferring simply to toss around nonsense like this after mentioning the possibility that soldiers are placed in situations where they may be forced into hand-to-hand combat,
I guess that if I were placed in this frightening position, I would pray that the enemy was stupid enough to send women into combat against me. Would they do me that favor? I doubt it. What country would be stupid enough to countenance such foolishness? What nation?s people would tolerate such a barbaric and self-defeating policy like sending women or effeminate sissies to fight its battles?
Women don?t belong in combat, and shame on George Bush for sending women anywhere NEAR a theater of combat operations, like Iraq. The entire Jessica Lynch fiasco was distracting, debilitating and humiliating.
And since women don?t belong in combat, they don?t belong in the uniform of a fighting serviceman or Marine. Our fighting men shouldn?t be emasculated by taking orders from women, especially when those women are not about to lead anyone into combat, and men instinctively know this, regardless of any standing orders or policies.
Okay, lets step back for a moment. The United States has fought four major wars in the last decade or so — the Persian Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and a second Persian Gulf War. Women were deployed in all four of these military actions, and often in combat roles. The last time I checked, each of these resulted in overwhelming U.S. victories. Maybe Shields would pray for his enemy to send F-14s and attack helicopters piloted at women against him, but I doubt the enemy combatants in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan were as happy about it as Shields would have been.
As I noted in an earlier post, almost 15 percent of soldiers deployed to fight Operation Iraqi Freedom were women and that war turned into one of the biggest routs in military history. More people are killed every three days in the United States than were killed in conquering Iraq.
If women really did hamper military effectiveness, why is this not showing up on the battlefield?
Source:
Women: Out of the Military Back in the Kitchen. William Shields, Etherzone, June 10, 2003.