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From: madmax@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Max Abramowitz)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Combat MOS for Women ?
Message-ID: <1991Jun23.231250.11314@cbnews.cb.att.com>
Date: 23 Jun 91 23:12:50 GMT
References: <1991Jun20.021602.2623@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1991Jun22.042038.3864@cbnews.cb.att.com>
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From: madmax@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Max Abramowitz)
In <1991Jun22.042038.3864@cbnews.cb.att.com>
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) writes: 

>   Women will NEVER in our lifetime be able to meet the same standards as
>Men. Put simply, their bodies are built differently (for those of you that
>didn't notice  :-}  ).  Most of the physical training was intended to see
>that people in combat (and service) are physically fit.  Physical fitness
>does NOT mean thing for everybody, but since personal fitness trainers
>are in the military budget, they are forced to use population standards.

Not only is this perception wrong, but once again this is not relevant
to the argument of whether or not women should serve in combat.  I do
not consider myself out-of-shape, I can run 5 miles very easily, I
have completed the haute route(translation:ten days of walking over
the Alps, on skis with a pack, from Chamonix to Zermatt), but I have
met many women that could out perform me physically (including an
ex-girl friend). SOME Women CAN meet the physical standard necessary
for combat, just as SOME men CAN NOT.  Women can exceed many of the
abilities of men.  A previous poster mentioned that women have better
endurance on average than men. I also believe than many women deal
with "real" pain better than men (my evidence: child birth hurts more
than a gun shot wound, and I see more men asking for pain killer after
getting shot than I see women not wanting natural childbirth).  

While the physical aspect of being a soldier is important, the mental
aspect is by far, much more important.  There is no evidence that shows
that some women can not meet the mental and physical requirements
which the United States Armed Forces have determined are necessary to
serve in combat roles.

max abramowitz
madmax@gargoyle.uchicago.edu
"One hundred years of women in interesting positions" - A T-shirt
celebrating the Centennial of Smith College.