From listening to discussion of this topic in the past few days, two thoughts came to mind. First, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke clearly about the roles that women are already fulfilling in the military and he underscored the obvious--not all women will be able to meet the qualifications to be a combat soldier. While I never served in the military, I think it’s safe to say that not all men qualify either. This leads to my second thought.
Would women serving willingly in combat be another step toward the realization that we females are <gasp> equal in more ways than some folks realize? I heard on National Public Radio this morning that it just wouldn’t be right to send women in to kill other people, especially those who are bigger and stronger than they are. After all, the speaker said, if a woman ran out of ammunition, how could she take down an enemy soldier with her bayonet? To repeat Secretary Panetta’s caveat, the female military must be as qualified as their male counterparts.
I find it especially interesting that some critics of this decision are now putting a higher value on the lives of females. Perhaps this will carry over to other rights, such as equal pay for equal work, as well as greater awareness of the innate intellectual abilities and physical and emotional stamina shared by women of all ages.

National Public Radio OMG;that is a one sided radio station,their side only;they never
give both sides to a story, only one side just like most news media lately.

This is a tough issue since I'm a retired soldier of Combat Arms. Woman are definitely capable and are great leaders. But in the field I think the mission could be effected by how men get to use toilet facilities in the field. They wouldn't be bashful but would the women? In the desert, there arn't many trees. Other things come to mind that would cause a man to lose focus. If a woman was next to me in a fire fight, I might be more protectve and distracted. It would be hard to see any woman fall into the capture of the enemy. The thought of torture would be tough to handle. So, I guess I'm a caveman mentality. Commander in Chief (President), no problem. Chief of Staff of our Army, no problem. General, no problem. War is nasty business and ugly. I've seen the worst of man's inhumanity to man. Tough question though because they are capable just don't know why they would want to.

This might be the biggest deterrent to women from joining the military. I would guess 99.9% have no interest in killing human beings or digging a hole in the sand to defecate with a hundred men watching. Rather, have the pay scales and access to promotions increased for women so they don't feel they have to resort to combat situations to make another stripe.