[Red October1984]

To the best of my knowledge, the standards were not in any way lowered for her. She passed the course fair and square while many women did not.

I disagree, however, that this will necessarily impact readiness or combat effectiveness. Women have been serving in combat roles for years now in the US military. While I agree that the infantry culture is definitely more male-centered and there, unfortunately, will likely be more controversy due to political correctness and such, it's not like they haven't been fighting outside the wire as part of police, civil affairs, intelligence, etc.

Having observed some of USAF Security Forces training firsthand, I have seen 5'2'' women beat up on much bigger men in combatives training. Some of the SF trainees that come out of that pipeline are tougher than you give them credit for.

I say let them try. Like I said, to the best of my knowledge, the standards were not lowered in this situation. With that being said, the Marines are no slackers in physical fitness. If she passed the exact same standards as her male classmates who are we to say they are unfit for duty? I think it's an old-fashioned way of thinking. If we do things the way we've always done it, we'll end up with what we always had. I'm not saying that we should put a rifle in the hand of every woman, but I don't see why they shouldn't be able to try.

When it comes down to man-to-man fighting, (and i'm no expert here), but that seems to be pretty rare these days. I don't remember the last time American troops fixed bayonets in battle. I don't remember the last time it came down to infantry platoons constantly running out of ammunition and support and having to fight the enemy with rifle buttstocks and their knives. Yes, you could pick out little incidents here and there, but on a larger scale (again, not claiming to be a know-all), it doesn't seem to be happening.

If other issues pop up down the line, they can be addressed then. For now, let her try. The naysayers may be right. It might be too rough of a job for women. But if they are unfit for infantry service does that make them unfit for military police? Or Civil Affairs? Or other fields involving combat arms?

EDIT: Going off of what i've already said, I do see one issue and that's the psychological impact of female soldiers/marines/etc being injured in combat. I've spoken to some friends about this and one brought up that there was a study done (still working on verifying the source) that men react differently when there's a female hurt and screaming bloody murder vs when there's another man doing the same. It could have psychological impacts on our effectiveness.