The few, the foolish

"This observation is no criticism of military women, who are just as determined, courageous and committed as their male counterparts. But contrary to what our government seems to think, the requirements of combat can’t be compromised to meet social goals of gender equality."

Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post

. . . "Notably missing from the historic news conference was Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and past Marine commandant. Dunford, apparently unwilling to ignore experience and empirical evidence, had recommended that infantry and armor positions remain closed to women. The Marines were the only service branch to request the ability to make exceptions to the new rule.

There’s plenty of evidence that women and men as groups aren’t equal in the demands of combat, even if some women may be and some men may not be. The few and far between shouldn’t be the basis for institutional overhaul, though this seems to be our template for mandates these days.

Among the evidence ignored by Obama, Carter and others are the results of a nine-month field test by University of Pittsburgh researchers who found that all-male USMC units outperformed mixed-gender units in 93 out of 134 ground combat tasks (69 percent).