And through all this welter of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to promote more women and minorities.

You knew this was coming....

As some of you know I recently retired from 23 years in the Army and Army Reserve where I served with excellent females of all ranks and duties (Intelligence, Judge Advocate, Logistics, etc). But the Combat Arms have always been off limits of females. The fact is most women (we're talking 99%) cannot handle the rigors of Infantry, Armor or tube Artillery. Sorry but it's a rate young woman who can handle 90lbs pack for days at a time or load shells in an M1 for long periods. Medical down time is bad enough for the Infantry...busted knees, arms, etc. Want to add in pregnancy? Once a woman is pregnant she is non-deployable and on light duty. But these people have their minds made up...don't confuse them with the fact.

Report: Too many whites, men leading military

By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is too white and too male at the top and needs to change recruiting and promotion policies and lift its ban on women in combat, an independent report for Congress said Monday.

Seventy-seven percent of senior officers in the active-duty military are white, while only 8 percent are black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 16 percent are women, the report by an independent panel said, quoting data from September 2008.

One barrier that keeps women from the highest ranks is their inability to serve in combat units. Promotion and job opportunities have favored those with battlefield leadership credentials.

Ms Jelinek this may shock you but the purpose of the military is not to advance a certain person's career. It is to win our wars. Sorry if you can't be a four star, life sucks. Also I love your title...will we ever read a title "Too many black in professional sports..."? Or "Too many women in nursing"? Just asking.

The report ordered by Congress in 2009 calls for greater diversity in the military’s leadership so it will better reflect the racial, ethnic and gender mix in the armed forces and in American society...

...“This problem will only become more acute as the racial, ethnic and cultural makeup of the United States continues to change,” said the report from the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, whose more than two dozen members included current and former military personnel as well as businessmen and other civilians.

Having military brass that better mirrors the nation can inspire future recruits and help create trust among the general population, the commission said....

We don't have a military that reflects the population. It's better. The military has a higher rate of high school graduates than the general population, post high school education and various other skills (e.g. high end mechanics, computer technicians, nursing and medical personnel, etc.) We have fewer people with serious criminal problems and less narcotics use. As my friend Darren has mentioned on his blog multiple times we don't allow handicapped people, obese people or other people with limitations. That's discrimination. Get over it. We there to accomplish a mission, not make you feel better.

...“If you look at today’s battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s not like it was in the Cold War, when we had a defined battlefield,” retired Air Force Gen. Lester L. Lyles, the commission’s chairman, said in an interview. “Women serve — and they lead — military security, military police units, air defense units, intelligence units, all of which have to be right there with combat veterans in order to do the job appropriately.”

General Lykes, with all due respect you're comparing apples and oranges. The air defense units women serve in are hi-range units such as the Patriot Missile. They have never served with a Stinger AD battery supporting a brigade. Intelligence units are at no lower level than a brigade. MP units support the rear and yes they get shot at in a low intensity conflict but that's nothing compared to the daily physical grind and abuse of the high end of combat. Ask the men who led the liberation of Kuwait and Iraq.

...Stretching the definition of diversity, the report also said the military must harness people with a greater range of skills and backgrounds in, for instance, cyber systems, languages and cultural knowledge to be able to operate in an era of new threats and to collaborate with international partners and others.
No argument. People with diverse skills are needed. That has little to do with their sex or skin color.

But again I go back to my first point and again I show what happens when you let women in the infantry. The Israeli's had mixed sex infantry during the 67 war and it was a disaster. No matter how you train them it would not get over the natural instinct for a man to protect a woman. And that is something we don't need in a firefight.

When I took my basic course at FT Huachuca AZ in 1988 one of my buddies was a prior service military police sergeant. He made a point to one of our female classmates he wanted to stay in the infantry or Special Forces because he didn’t want to deal with female issues. I don’t' know how that worked out for him but females bring limitations that are not needed in direct combat units.

I pray this committee's report is just another waste of money and paper. And I’m glad I'm now retired.