During the summer of 1978, an all-state athlete from Powers Catholic High School in Flint, Mich., earned admittance to the Air Force Academy. The sky was the limit for the would-be cadet, save one minor issue: he declined the enrollment to stay near a summer girlfriend. They broke up. Still, I wonder if my father’s friend had been born a woman, would she have made the same decision?
Here’s a starting point for discussing the role of women in the armed forces, particularly in combat settings: it’s not the 1970s anymore. Two of the most significant evolutions shaping today’s battlefront are education and technology. Our military can and should adapt to these changes.
Since Jimmy Carter hung up his POTUS sweater, women on campus have turned the tables in an institution long dominated by men of privilege. The Department of Education reports almost 60 percent of the nation’s higher education student body is female, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down.
It’s both quantity and quality. From the largest state school to the most elite Ivy League, The New York Times reports that, “women are walking off with a disproportionate share of the honors degrees.” Even at Hillsdale College, 53 percent of our challenge-seeking student body is female.
These figures have their perks on a college campus (I met my girlfriend at A.J.’s Cafe). Nevertheless, critics are quick to suggest that putting men and women together on the battlefield will inevitably lead to coital complications.
This argument is a weak one. Assuming that soldiers can’t behave themselves in an appropriate sexual manner lacks tact, at best. At worst, it presumes an alarming undertone of disobedience, the ramifications of which reach far beyond the act of sex.
A subset of the conservative right feels a duty to protect the traditional image of women from the battle side of war, but what could possibly voice America’s opposition to Sharia Law louder than a woman in combat boots?
Our armed forces ought to have the smartest, most capable minds both behind the scenes and on the ground. Coupled with great technological leaps forward, the wars of the 21st century are evermore being waged with a surgical knife, not a bayonet (if you need convincing, Google “drones”).
Pointing out the physical strength disparity between genders is becoming increasingly irrelevant. The comparison is much more similar to how a graduate must pass the bar to practice law, the military’s physical evaluations are a standard, regardless of race, creed or gender. To borrow a line from Jack Nicholson, “When you’re staring down a loaded gun, what’s the difference?”