I've read through this thread pretty carefully, and it seems clear that MomWPGirl is not arguing against any negative comments on the idea of women in the infantry or Ranger School -- she is talking about comments calling specific female officers "b------" and "c_____." Those types of comments are not, I hope, representative of a thinking infantry officer (and we exist!).
Such comments are ugly, cowardly, and actually very counterproductive in terms of fostering an actual debate on the idea of women in the infantry. Hopefully people can realize that it is just a sub-genre of the vile anonymous internet comments found everywhere.
As I've said on some of the USMC IOC threads, I have real questions as to whether enough women have the body type for the long-term load-bearing element of the modern "light" infantry mission (which ain't light). This is, by the way, a question in general -- there's lots of research going on as to how to keep the individual infantryman with the same firepower but try to lighten the weight he takes into the field. If you've hung out with any 40 year old infantry officers, talk to them about knees, ankles, hips and you'll see it's a problem for everyone, male or female, but the "typical" male body can do it for longer before breaking down. I served with brave and effective female Marines in Afghanistan who daily put themselves in harm's way and in our minds not only advanced our mission but probably saved lives through their liaison work. They had courage, imagination, humor and fortitude. Personally, I admire the women who've taken on the challenge of USMC IOC and of Army RS, even as my mind is not made up on whether, if I were in charge of policy (which I'm not), it makes sense to open up the infantry generally to women given the realities of the equipment and the mission as they intersect with physiology.
