On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:34:16 -0500, Dave Symn
 wrote:

>On 30 Mar 2005 21:22:54 -0800, connor_a{at}hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> Viking wrote:
>>> On 30 Mar 2005 07:45:47 -0800, "Hyerdahl"
 wrote:
>>>
>>>>[Women generally have smaller feet and bones.  So if the same degree
>> of
>>>>stress is applied, it might not be equitable to apply the same
>> standard
>>>>of strees as men receive.]
>>>
>>> Be sure to tell any enemy combatants the same thing, OK?
>> 
>> Its cowshit from hyer-thang, the VC had thousands of 5foot 50kg
>> female/male combatants kill/POW'ing 200lbs GI gunts in the 'Nam. The
>> same can be said of the Tamil tiger women who don't need hyer-thangs or
>> the west's "measurements".


Actually, America never lost a single open-field battle in Vietnam in
which hand-to-hand combat was involved.  Size and strength do matter
in battle.

America lost Vietnam for geo-political reasons, not for reasons of
military effectiveness and certainly NOT because Vietnamese soldiers
overpowered American ones.


>OK, no argument there. 


The Viet Cong and some guerilla outfits used/use women in support
operations, largely for the same reason that they use children in
support operations - the fact that Westernized soldiers are less
likely to fire upon them.

I once heard a story from a Vietnam vet who told me of losing a buddy
over there who hadn't responded quickly enough to a ten year old Viet
Cong boy lobbing hand grenades at him.  It's no secret that guerilla
armies often use civilian populations for cover.

However, no one is ever heard to argue that children should be allowed
into Western armies and participate in combat operations.

I suspect that stories of ferocious and able fighting women from
Vietnam and Tamil would turn out, on closer inspection, to be nothing
more substantial than urban rumors - such as the myths of the Israeli
fighting women turned out to be.

If women are going to make up 52% of the fighting force, as conner
cynically suggests, they should do it for ultra-cynical "It's their
country; let them fight for it (and lose it)" reasons, as Society
suggests  - NOT under the pretense that they are going to do a good
job at it.




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