The U.S. military is a highly complex system that is tasked to win wars and protect our country. For the longest time, women were not allowed to serve in any capacity with the military, only starting to be allowed in World War I when women served as nurses and different forms of aid. Women started to be allowed into combat, but many times they would not technically be listed as on the front lines, because the military used loopholes to insert those women into that situation. But, in 2016 all bans on enlistment for women were lifted (History Women Military). Still, this topic is highly debated. Should women be allowed to serve in the same context as men? Should their differences from men make it impossible to serve? Or is the military system itself twisted in a way that makes having women in combat would crash the whole delicate system? Women could serve in the military's toughest ranks- but because of biological differences between men and women, men should be picked first to serve in hand-to-hand combat situations. Women should not be picked for the military because of their injury rate, lower training standards, pregnancy, rape, and the effect on cohesion within the unit. 

Women biologically have less muscle than men, narrower shoulders, and wider hips- these differences can make it common for women in the military to become injured easily or not be as effective in performance. When going through basic training women are injured when they are asked to repeatedly lift objects that are 80% of their total body composition. (Heavy loads and Lifting..) This could be helped with greater emphasis on sit ups before being sent to training, but women are still more likely to be injured than men . This means that even with more emphasis on women’s training that women just cannot compete with men- which is logical because the standards of physical fitness that is expected is catered towards the male body. Every limit is set to men and their ability to perform and is not personalized to meet the needs of women soldiers.  Women can- and have- reached the physical fitness that the military requires, but cannot keep it up in the long run and integrating the small number of females who can meet the standards would logistically not be worth the small impact that it would have. It is not a matter of attainability, but sustainability. “There are female service members who have proven themselves to be physically, mentally, and morally capable of leading and executing combat-type operations; as a result, some of these Marines may feel qualified for the chance of taking on the role. In the end, my main concern is not whether women are capable of conducting combat operations, as we have already proven that we can hold our own in some very difficult combat situations; instead, my main concern is a question of longevity. Can women endure the physical and physiological rigors of sustained combat operations, and are we willing to accept the attrition and medical issues that go along with integration?” said Captain Katie Petronio who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many people who do believe that women should be allowed in hand-to-hand combat positions bring up strong women who have served and fought, but those are the minority. In fact, many females were dismissed from duty in 2010 because they had been deemed unfit to serve because of their physical health. (Physical Fitness Tests for Females Under Military Microscope). When a study was done, same sex units outperformed the integrated units on 69% of the tasks they were assigned. (Why Marines have a problem with women in combat). Women were slower, inaccurate, and more likely to suffer from injuries that would prevent them from doing their job. The female body is not meant to reach and maintain the physical fitness that is required of the typical soldier that is involved with hand-to-hand combat and having an all male fighting force would equalize the fitness levels of the military. 

The top bracket of female recruits physically are on par with the lowest standard of men that are recruited. Also, female recruits have lower training standards than the men. If you are a female at the age of 17-21 you are only required to do 19 pushups and your male counterpart is required to do 42 when completing the physical training (No girls allowed).  The lower training standards for these women could potentially be dangerous to the operation. When training for these operations becomes real life it is no longer a matter of first and second place, but life and death for yourself, your team members, and the success of your mission.  "The enemy does not lower their standards, and the Army is not an equal opportunity employer. If you are too tall, too fat, or not smart enough, you cannot get in." said General Martin Dempsey. Many people argue that women can keep up with the daily duties of most squadrons (Perceptions and Attitudes of Female Soldiers towards physical performance and fitness standards in soldiers). But, when a woman is placed in a combat situation and is fatigued, starving, and hopeless would she be able to keep up with the men or potentially drag a male member of her squadron to safety? These lower standards ensure that the best of the female recruits may not be able to do that when they are healthy and rested. We cannot allow women to get by with lower standards and put our country and their squad in danger. 

Pregnancy, is also a serious problem to consider with female soldiers. Unexpected pregnancy in the military has been on the rise. This takes women out of their positions that they were needed in. Unplanned pregnancies can cost the military around $10,000 dollars for every female they have to send home from active duty (Unplanned pregnancies may be on rise in military). Then, they have to hire new people to replace the women who were working in those positions along with still supporting the woman who got pregnant. This happens because contraceptives are not readily available when in the field, and it is hard to consistently use them because you are usually traveling or do not have easy access to your regular care provider. Women do have access to condoms but often are too afraid to ask for them because slut shaming. Women’s contraceptive health is being worked on in the military, but it would just be cheaper to have an all-male fighting force, so that no women had to be taken out of combat because pregnancy (Unplanned pregnancies may be on rise in military). Also, the young fetus’ life could be in danger because women who are in the military often deny pregnancy for the first months so they they are able to continue fighting. Some say that women in the military should be allowed to have children freely and that it would not put anyone in the military at risk. But, whenever you are taking a trained person out of their position and putting a new, less experienced person there is a learning curve that is extremely dangerous in high level operations like combat. "It does definitely have implications for troop readiness, ability to deploy (and) troops in combat missions if they are potentially at high risk for unintended pregnancy and pregnant women can't be deployed," said Dr. Vinita Goyal. Having women in a fighting force could weaken the force when they are gone and be potentially life threatening. 

Another very unfortunate reason why women should not be allowed in combat is rape and sexual harassment. At least 25% of female soldiers report having been sexually assaulted and most estimates report that about 80% of sexual assaults are not reported because of fear they may lose their job or face punishment. When women in the military report incidents such as this they are retaliated against. They face being demoted, threatened, or misconduct charges (Embattled: Retaliation against sexual assault survivors in the US Military). Many women are raped or assaulted by the people who rank above her, and the fear they have of reporting the crime means that many cases are never reported. This means living with their attacker on a daily basis. Many women who do report the rape are discharged and reported as having a personality disorder. “Only later did she learn that PD discharges, a term used to describe a mental health condition that can disqualify someone from military service, were once considered the easiest way to get rid of someone in the military and to silence them.” (Witness: Raped in the US Military, Retaliated Against for Life). This is the case for many women who report their assault- they are forced out of their careers, and their lives are severely affected by this accusation of having a personality disorder. Many believe that the military should place more emphasis on making sure that the male members value the female members more, but you cannot force them to do anything they do not want to, and unfortunately it is hard to prevent what happens behind closed doors. Having all males would not only protect the women but it would mean there would be less rape and sexual assault in the military and would mean the military could focus on their job instead of having to prevent sexual assaults. To protect women, having all males would reduce the amount of sexual assault that happens and it would prevent having women who are forced to quit because of a tricky sexual assault case. 

If women were not allowed in the military then the cohesion of the unit would be better. Men traditionally took on the roles of the being the soldier. When females are added into the mix the men would feel like they would have to protect the women and may do something that would put the squad in danger to protect the female. Men are biologically made to take risks for women and that can be harmful in an already dangerous situation. “I'm totally against women in combat, because we live in a culture and a society that imposes on every man the concept of women and children first...If you had a man and a woman trying to go through some dangerous woods, the man's instinct would be to protect the woman. Therefore you weaken the man.” Grace Hopper a U.S. Naval rear admiral points out. The military is also a brotherhood.  Men also get through the toughness of war and fighting through brotherhood.  The man on his right and left are not going to let him down. When a female comes and serves alongside the males many may feel like the brotherhood is threatened, and harbor resentment that the attitude of the force had shifted. “Nobody in my unit wants it- It would be like high school”, stated Ed, an infantryman who for professional purposes wishes to only go by his first name. “I’ve seen it in plenty of POG units. Infantrymen are a tight band of brothers. Our neighbors [gender integrated units] next door stumble all over each other with drama and lowered unit capabilities.” (No Girls Allowed: Three reasons why women shouldn’t be integrated into combat arms). In the infantry, they encourage highly masculine traits, because most of them are in their late teens and early twenties and still have raging hormones. This may pose to be a distraction when there is a female involved, and may result in relationships, drama, and in worst cases, rape. This could result in third parties having to get involved to mediate the situation. Each unit has an equal opportunity officer that is supposed to promote equality in the workplace, but their job is significantly harder when women are in the units (Why Women Do Not Belong in the U.S. Infantry). This drama takes focus off the mission and training and means that they are less focused and prepared for the stressful operations coming up. “There is no clearer way to put it than this: Heterosexual men like women. They also compete for their attention. This is best captured by the Darwinist aphorism: male-male competition and female choice. Or, try: no female has to leave a bar alone if she doesn’t want to, whereas at ‘last call’ lots of men do.” (HERE’S WHY WOMEN IN COMBAT UNITS IS A BAD IDEA) Letting women into the mix of the fighting force would damage the cohesion that the military has worked to build up to develop an effective fighting force. 

Ultimately, women should not be allowed to participate in jobs that require hand-to-hand combat because of their injury rate, lower training standards, pregnancy, rape, and cohesion within the unit. People who argue the other side often call serving a civil liberty or a duty to the country, but if women serving could possibly put more people at risk then is it really a civil liberty that should be allowed? Often times in war we give up certain liberties in order to win and defeat our enemy and nobody has a problem with it, so it should be regarded as something that is bad for the individual but better for the whole country. Ultimately, war is not fair. As stated in Korematsu, “hardships are part of war, and war is an aggregation of hardships.” It does not care what individuals think about equality or fairness. When someone is sent into war they are being sent because they are the best person to fight and protect our country. Women are not capable of fully fitting in to the military culture- mentally or physically- and if they do it is not sustainable. It is not ever been a question of if they are able to, because there has been many a woman who has proven herself to be capable of such military prowess, but they are few and far between. Many women come home from war and they are injured and distraught. So just keeping women out of the war zone will help all of the military. 

In conclusion, women should not be allowed in hand-to-hand combat situations; this is because of the physical and mental differences that women have from men that prevent them from being able to perform at a certain level. It would be better for the country and for the health of the women that would be put in these combat situations. The U.S. military is a system in which the function is crucial to our health and safety, and that system functions better when all of the soldiers are essentially the same. Females require different bathrooms, physical training, and many other things- which makes it difficult for the unit to perform efficiently. Making sure the military is a well-oiled machine is of utmost importance and having women in the military has proven not to be as effective as single gendered units. Leaving women out of combat protects the brotherhood of the military while maintaining the protection that this country requires. 
