nation

Regardless of the Supreme Court ruling on women and the draft, Congress could easily add them to this requirement and it should, if we really believe in equality.

Women should be forced to register for selective service and forced to fight in combat. Why aren't the feminists demanding this? Aren't they all about equal rights?

Include equal physical fitness standards as well.

There are barriers to women in front line combat, and many of them more subtle than the romantics and inexperienced at home realize.. The first discussion not heard needs to be about the responsibility to the men in front line combat and equal rights for them - should we dumb down the infantry training so women can pass it? And responsibility to the the wives and mothers - and fathers - who should be asked if they want theirs to be protected on the flanks by dumbed-down soldiers...OK, no dumbed-down training... Second - reality check - if women can pass the present infantry combat courses, then we can go to the next step. So far, we have not had to go to the next step, as women in the military don't want to and fail, and they have not been able to.... Third - a problem which all front line units know, a hard reality of a combat unit - if a soldier is out there in a unit and is marginal and is putting the unit at risk, they either get transferred or someone in the unit will remove them in a firefight. Murder? Probably. Unit survival - probably. The why of anything in combat, including duty to unit over a person - is moot. Every combat unit senior NCO and experienced officer knows it and looks for it, or he knows he will write a letter... A woman has to climb a higher hill in combat, and it's not some intellectual ideal - it's as real as it gets. Can they? If 2 women can, do we risk the thousands of men and the lives of women who can't - for those 2? That sure as H___ is backwards from the the way the miltary works

I still do not believe we should be putting women in combat. You can call me old fashion, but I believe men should be the protectors of all others including women. We fight for them and we die for them. Its in our nature. To me it's not about a woman's ability to be in combat. Hell, most men are suitable for real combat. It's about social and moral standards and obligations. Men should respect and protect woman at all times. Thats how I was raised. To me that is what is right.

The bottom line in any and all calls for "equality" and "fairness" for women, is that true equality and fairness should mean that women shoulder equal responsibilities ... and equal liabilities with men. This means women being required to sign-up for the draft. This means women serving in combat arms, and not just voluntarily. Put up or shut up. Women should not be allowed to have their cake and eat it too.

First, women are already "in combat." It gets far more "gray" than is thought: Mentioned in the article "operating" Patriot Missile Systems. The motto of Air Defense Artillery, is "First to Fire." And in conflict with an enemy with missile and air power capabilities (Iran, North Korea come to mind), that's very real, as is "first to be fired upon." Second, as to "front line" in the "traditional infantry combat situation," you experts (and the writer) need to familiarize yourself with "FET's" (those are Female Engagement Teams) and how they operate on the ground on patrol with the infantry in Afghanistan (with the Army infantry units with which I am familiar). Finally, at a higher level, a female officer recently served most of a combat tour in Afghanistan as chief of operations of a mechanized infantry brigade. If you would have asked this same "do you want to" question of most males in history of the US Army at war, do you really suppose the answer would of the vast majority would have been anything but "no thanks?" Sorry, for the most part, this ship has sailed. /signed/ A (male) Infantry Combat Veteran

If they can pass the physical test then they should be able to serve on the front lines. Anything else is just plain old sexism.

The headline from the front page: Infantry now shut to women; do they want it open? is totally insulting. Who's "they"? Is it only men writing from this newspaper staff? Stop talking about women as though we are objects please.

I am all for equal rights, as long as it gets me ahead without earning it.