Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: psg@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Paul S Galvanek) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Combat MOS for Women ? Message-ID: <1991Jun25.024836.27951@cbnews.cb.att.com> Date: 25 Jun 91 02:48:36 GMT References: <1991Jun20.021602.2623@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1991Jun22.042038.3864@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1991Jun23.231250.11314@cbnews.cb.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.cb.att.com (william.a.thacker) Organization: University of Pittsburgh Lines: 54 Approved: military@att.att.com From: "Paul S Galvanek" >Not only is this perception wrong, but once again this is not relevant >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 Actually Max it is your perception that is very, very wrong. You determine physical adequacy as being the number of mile a person can hike compared to another. That simply doesn't reflect in any way the realities of battle. Some interesting evidence that might be pertinent are the military's own studies of men and women in extreme weather conditions. Women simply couldn't preform as adequately as men under intense heat and sub zero tempratures. They dehydrated quicker then men were more susceptible to frost bite and hypathermia, they also tired much more quickly in both extremely hot and cold conditions. In addition to these fudamental difference there were the physical problems associated with the women's menstral cycle. Under ideal conditions nearly every women suffers some physical discomfort during her cycle. For most women these are minor but for many they can be severe. In the military weather studies many women became non-functioning when the combination of menstral cramps, headaches and swelling was multiplied by the 100 degrees + tempratures of the jungle or subzero temps. For a number of the women in the studies simple dehydration quickly turned into a life threatening problem under the most severe conditions a problem not shared by men (not the dehy- dration but the rapid decline in preformance) The simple truth known by anyone who has served in the military is that women are judged by different physical standards from basic training right on up through the various acadamies and training programs, which may be okay for conducting war games, but in the real thing barriers and trenchs can't simply be adjusted to suit women as they are during peace time training. This alone has caused a great deal of resentment men in the military who feel it's unfair they must achieve a higher standard to gain the same recognition. Add to that the potential loss of trained critical personnel due to pregnancy and the to numerous to count emotional entanglements associated with men and women serving together and this seemingly positive political move could spell disaster of a real battlefield. Women in combat... No way! Paul Galvanek