Women cry too much and have too many babies

And we certainly cannot have any of that on the battlefield. Luckily, the House Armed Services Committee has saved women the trouble of serving their country in combat with a 61-1 vote. I'm not exactly sure of my own opinions on the subject, mostly because I haven't been faced direclty with the option. However, my first gut reaction is that women should be allowed to serve in combat if they are inclined to. Refusing to allow this is blatant discrimination.

"Women in the military would be barred from serving in direct ground combat roles, under a House bill that sets Defense Department policy and spending plans for the upcoming budget year... Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., cast the lone dissenting vote on the overall bill."

Like I said, I'm not well established in my own opinion, but there is an interesting discussion on the military.com forum. I'll pick on SgtM_11B because his is an excessively long diatribe:

1) YOU WILL BE A DISTRACTION:
A)[The commander] would have additional worries that female soldiers/marines could and would be exposed to rape, sexual harrassment, pregnancy, boyfriends/girlfriends in a unit and their probles ect. [sic]

Well, I've never been in this situation, but if I were a male soldier and had harmful projectiles flying at me, the last thing on my mind would be sex.

2) Physique
A) Females are shaped different than men, hence the lowered standards of a PT Test. It is a proven science that the average, AND I SAY AGAIN AVERAGE, woman cannot perform as well as the AVERAGE male physically.
B) Potential HAND to HAND combat: Females, being mostly smaller and having different attributes as males ARE NOT as effective in CLOSE COMBAT.

I'm sure that women have to endure the same physical training as men to prepare them for these challenges. Even by his own admission later in his rant "Last I checked I HAD to pass all the requirements in order to fight on the frontlines, physically and mentally with NO substandard." Which would mean that if women are not able to perform, they are not allowed to--the same standards as held for men. But what if they are able? Shouldn't the option be open to them?

3) MENTALLY
A) Most, and I say AGAIN NOT ALL, MOST females ARE NOT capable of maintaining focus in situations as a male. SOME males often have this problem, and they DO NOT belong there as well.
B) Crying is A FLAW IN COMBAT...MOST FEMALES, and AGAIN MOST, have a higher percentage of breaking down in combat compared to a male.

I won't even comment on that one. But I couldn't help but laugh at this one:

6) WE DO NOT WANT YOU, DO NOT NEED YOU

Whaaa??? Last time I checked, the military was understaffed and underequipped. You could use all the help you can get, my friend.