Of wimps and warriors

Sitting here wondering if Forrest Gump’s friend Jenny could have carried Bubba and Lt. Dan across the battlefield in the fog of war. Hmm.

The idea of women in infantry combat roles is the latest in a series of absurdities rolled out by our Defense Department. First, open homosexuality was declared acceptable in the ranks along with its unintended consequences. Now this.

Seems as though our political leaders are determined to appease some liberal interest groups regardless of how it affects the military’s mission. We’ve become so open-minded that our brains have fallen out. A military brass largely irreligious—or gutless—seems to be falling in lockstep with the cadence called by our Commander in Chief.

A column in the Wall Street Journal by a Marine combat veteran described 2003’s Iraq invasion and the hellish conditions as leathernecks endured hours of movement crammed like sardines in assault vehicles, not stopping for anyone’s bathroom needs. You can imagine the potty innovations, or read his account yourself. No woman should endure it, and no man should have to endure her being there (or vice versa).

The question, ultimately, isn’t whether women can serve honorably and courageously (many have and still do) but whether or not a nation with any lick of sense would dare send its women into the demands of leading-edge combat when it didn’t absolutely need to for survival.

Anyone who served in the Reagan era or earlier knows the crudeness of male-only or even male-dominated military units. I understand that the Tailhook Scandal of the early ‘90s as well as the hazing controversies later that decade have tamed the atmosphere a bit, but the demands of warriors—the mindset involved—necessitates a certain level of detachment from the niceties of the real world. There must be a better way, but the PC movement hasn’t helped us find it.

The men and women in suits who are pushing this agenda (and the gutless, shameless generals and admirals who know better but wish to keep their high positions) have forgotten that girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, boys of rocks and snails and puppy dog tails.

The potential problems with this direction are too numerous to mention here. But a leading concern is the rise in sexual assaults and in deployment-related pregnancies as women have increasingly been placed alongside men in other roles previously not open to them, as reported by the Center for Military Readiness.

The language of Solomon in his Songs seems a good place to discover the unspeakable differences between men and women. God made us equal in essence and value but wonderfully unequal in physicality and function. The Lord liked it so much he described the church as his Bride.

John Piper’s 2007 World Magazine article has been making the rounds, and justifiably so. Here’s a nugget:

“If I were the last man on the planet to think so, I would want the honor of saying no woman should go before me into combat to defend my country. A man who endorses women in combat is not pro-woman; he’s a wimp. He should be ashamed.”

OoRah, John Piper!