No Women in Combat

Essay by a_patel123College, Undergraduate July 2004

download word file, 3 pages 4.6

In today's society, with affirmative action full out in most industries and businesses, and the equal rights movement having made great progress; there is finally a snag in the nylons of woman activists. The question of whether women should have to serve in combat is upon us. The answer is no.

If you have kept up with the news in recent years, women have been fighting their way into the top military academies, the Citadel being the most recent case. These woman have claimed being just as tough as men, which is scientifically incorrect, but hey it's a defense. They have, through grueling court battles, made their way into the elite schools of our great military, where our best men have been serving us for generations. While claiming to be every bit as good as the men, they have for a most part failed once they got in. Ms. Faulkner won her legal battle to enter the Citadel, breaking a 152 year tradition of training men only.

On August 14, 1995, during her first day of military training, she collapsed from heat exhaustion. Within days, she abruptly withdrew from the college, forced to admit that she could not withstand the rigors of "hell week." Ms. Faulkner, fighting back tears, explained that two and a half years of stress had "all crashed in" on her in the first days there. After not quite making the cut, and surviving the stress and trials of these places, they say that it is because the men were too hard on them. "Too hard" is not a valid sentence in the military, you are either tough enough or you fail.

I am not a sexist, don't get me wrong. I know many woman who are my intellectual superiors whom I admire. I have even met...