Another day, another article arguing why women shouldn’t be allowed to serve in combat units. I’ve already written about it elsewhere, so I’m not going to rehash my arguments in depth, but let’s take a look at the arguments in Anna Simons’ recent War on the Rocks article, “Here’s Why Women In Combat Units is A Bad Idea.”
When Simons argues that “battles are exclamation points: it’s the off duty time that’s a problem,” she undermines the rest of her essay. In doing so, she moves beyond the arguably unique question of ground combat capabilities and into the universal question of what to do with soldiers in their off duty time. She implies that women are actually capable of performing during combat operations, but that (in my words, not hers) putting up with the alleged drama of having females in the unit isn’t worth it. Workplace relationships do, of course, happen in the military and elsewhere. And yes, when they go poorly, it’s weird for everyone around them. But does that awkwardness translate into lost combat effectiveness?