Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

It is no secret that the U.S. Armed Forces have become a playground for left wing social engineers. In 2011, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was dropped and open and outward homosexual behavior was no longer grounds for expulsion. How this made our military stronger has yet to be explained. Just days ago, Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta announced that women will be able to serve in combat positions. While this move may make gender-neutral activists pleased as punch, it will do little to make our national defense stronger and more effective. It in fact does quite the opposite.
 

One of the main reasons why women have not been allowed in combat roles is because of the grueling physical standards necessary to serve on the front lines. Carrying heavy packs and fallen comrades requires brute upper body strength, something women are less endowed than men. On average,  they have less than 50 percent the upper body strength,  less testosterone, and less muscle mass. In order for women to be admitted to combat roles, the standards will have to be lowered. It may make radical feminists happy but it will not make our troops any safer.

According to the Center for Military Readiness, "High, uncompromised standards simply are not compatible with recommendations of the Pentagon's own Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC), a mostly-civilian commission set up by feminists in the Congress and the Pentagon.  In 2011, the MLDC called for elimination of women's land combat exemptions in order to achieve non-remedial gender-based "diversity metrics" − read, "quotas."  The Defense Department endorsed the MLDC's egalitarian report at a Pentagon news conference on February 9, 2012."

"The MLDC Report that the Department of Defense endorsed last year recommends that a "Chief Diversity Officer (CDO)," reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense, be established to monitor accountability for "diversity management."  (MLDC Executive Summary, p. xvii)  The new Diversity Czar will establish a new feminist power base in the Pentagon that will make career promotions at all levels contingent on "diversity leadership." 

A Chief Diversity Officer? Is somebody kidding me?

Lowering standards will only create resentment among the more physically fit who are depending on the strength of each troop on the front line. It will compromise unit cohesion. It will not make our defense capability any stronger, despite the best arguments from any "Diversity Czar."  Women are certainly capable in many categegories. They can be just as courageous, dedicated and as brave as men, but it is foolhardy to throw them onto the front lines and treat them like one of the guys in wartime.  When faced  in a real war, the enemy will not care one whit about gender equality and the socially engineered combat force they are facing.

There are two unthinkables under these new guidelines: The prospect of more women POW's and what hostile enemies will do to them. The other is the very real possibility that absolute gender equality will eventually lead to a day where all women of age are forced into the draft.