Women in the Armed Forces

Women in the Armed Forces.

Today American women can easily choose a career in a branch of the armed forces. Indeed, there are approximately 200.000 American women on active duty in the US armed forces and they constitute nearly 20 percent of its strength. These women have the chance to take advantage of opportunities to pursue an exciting career and educational goals. They are given most of the same opportunities as men in uniform such as flying planes or helicopters. However, I strongly believe that women should not go into armed combat and there are several reasons for this argument.

The first and most important reason why women should not fight in combat is because of their fundamental role in this life. Women are the source of life, and since they are the ones who bring new life into the world by giving birth, it must be difficult, if not impossible, for them to take a life. Nevertheless, in a real fight, they need to make an instant decision to kill. Any hesitation shall result in their death or the death of other soldiers fighting with them.

Another reason why women should not make part of any combat forces is because they do not have the physical strength that their male counterparts have. This is very likely to mean that in hand-to-hand combat with an armed enemy, they are completely unable to defend themselves, let alone defend people around them and whose lives might be at stake. Isn't it a natural fact that women are not as brave, aggressive or strong as men? Hence, once again, their presence in an actual battlefield may endanger not only their own lives, but also the other soldiers' lives.

The final reason for banning women from actual combat in the army is the problems that would arise between the sexes and the negative effects on the morale of male soldiers. In his book Modern Liberalism and American Decline, Colonel Robert Bork states that "All-male units in the field experience bonding that enhances unit cohesion and effectiveness. When women are introduced, men stop relating to each other and begin trying to attract the women. Men can quickly become on less-than-friendly terms with a mini-war over a woman. Nor can morale be improved when accusations of harassment are always a threat." An accusation of sexual harassment by the woman, even if unproven, would severally damage the man's service career. Such problems are very likely to make it more and more difficult to win an armed conflict against the enemy on land, on sea, or in the air.

In these terms, America should never allow women to ruin the great reputation of its staunch combat forces which brave men have built over so many years of laborious and strenuous work. For this will inflict enormous damage on the readiness and fighting capability of the armed forces of our beloved country. Every other career is open to women.

Therefore, I cannot see any