Can Women Be Commandoes?
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No. The odd one that has completed the Commando course doesn't really count.
Having a never-ending stream of recruited females who would have the physical and mental courage, strength and fortitude is virtually and practically impossible.
From a post I made a couple of weeks back:
The slots that may be opened are in our infantry and Special Forces units. The purpose of such units is to directly and physically engage enemy forces. This can often involve personal, hand-to-hand combat in which women will now have to fight men.
These units can often be deployed in prolonged operations that can last for months. The physical toll is constant and wearing. During operations of this kind there is typically no access to a base of operations or facilities. Consequently, living conditions can be abysmal and base.
There is routinely no privacy or ability to maintain personal hygiene for extended periods. Soldiers and Marines have to relieve themselves within sight of others.(My own addition: Recce/Close Observation platoons in N. Ireland have to urinate in sealable bottles and defacate into cling film. That, combined with menstruation would create enormous difficulties). Think back to those scenes of combat in Vietnam, the Pacific in World War II, or the frozen mountains of Korea. It isn't pretty, and the same is happening now in Afghanistan.
This combat environment -- now containing males and females -- will place a tremendous burden on combat commanders. Not only will they have to maintain their focus on defeating the enemy in battle, they will have to do so in an environment that combines life-threatening danger with underlying sexual tensions. This is a lot to ask of the young leaders, both men and women, who will have to juggle the need to join and separate the sexes within the context of quickly developing and deadly situations.