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Yes! And I [the author] say this as someone who served in an army that boasts about its female soldiers. So I hope that even if you disagree with me, you'll bear with me and read till the end… FACT TIME * The Israeli defense forces stopped using actual female combat soldiers after 1948. This was when they noticed that coed combat units suffered close to 50% higher casualty rates than all male units, and were worlds less effective when it came to mission completion. * Due to this fact, women were barred from all combat roles in the IDF...

Move over Radio City Rockettes!  Your competition has arrived.  On page one of today's Wall Street Journal is a terrific pic of North Korean women soldiers doing some mighty fine high-kicking for their military parade. Now copyright restrictions don't allow me to show those pics on this thread, but click over to Google Images using the keywords: north korea women soldiers parade Did Chairman Kim prepare this non-nuke display of beauty and athleticism especially for his friend, The Donald? Your comments please...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---More than 80 percent of a sample of Air Force women deployed in Iraq and other areas around the world report suffering from persistent fatigue, fever, hair loss and difficulty concentrating, according to a University of Michigan study. The pattern of health problems reported by 1,114 women surveyed in 2006 and 2007 is similar to many symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, the controversial condition reported by veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "It is possible that some unknown environmental factor is the cause of current health problems and of Gulf War Syndrome," said U-M researcher Penny Pierce....

Gen. Peter Schoomaker raised eyebrows when he dismissed as not a "gender issue" the women-in-combat controversy at an American Enterprise Institute symposium. The Army Chief of Staff April 11 answered a questioner who rightly praised the courage of female soldiers but expressed concern about the unprecedented number of women maimed or killed in Iraq (33, to date) and Afghanistan (5).

LONDON (AP) -- The American general who was in charge of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison claimed she was being made a scapegoat for the abuse of detainees, and said her successor once told her that prisoners should be treated "like dogs." A spokesman for Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, accused of making the "like dogs" remark, categorically denied the charge. In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio broadcast Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski said Miller told her last autumn that prisoners "are like dogs, and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     Part IX: Women Soldiers & Sailors   In 1428 a 16 year old peasant girl named Jehanne la Pucelle convinced the Dauphin of France to put her in charge of his army by promising to reclaim Orleans from the English and have him crowned at Riems. In May 1429 she led the army in the battle that returned Orleans to the French and two...

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, in full camouflage gear, demonstrates her combat and first aid skills to the media as part of a three-week military training course in Almnas, Sweden, to prepare her for international peacekeeping missions, March 18, 2003. The 25-year-old princess, the oldest of the three children of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, practiced combat skills, marksmanship, first aid and chemical warfare safety with 41 other men and women at the Swedish armed forces' peacekeeping training ground south of Stockholm. Enlisting for military service is obligatory for men in Sweden but only a third actually undergo...

WASHINGTON -- The Army has slammed shut a door previously open to women soldiers, barring female GIs from an elite reconnaissance role. Until now, women had been welcomed into squadrons slated to become key "eyes and ears" of the Army's future fighting force. Thirteen had joined the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadrons, based at Fort Lewis, Wash. But now the Army is reassigning those women GIs to other units and shutting the "tip-of-the-spear" squadrons to women. The reason: The service says the units will be directly involved in ground combat -- from which women soldiers are banned by a...