Do You Call This Opportunity?

I see by the papers that Britain is considering the idea of allowing women to serve in combat units. It seems unfair according to rules of the European Union that females are denied the opportunity to kill the enemy face-to-face. This comes as a shocker to me because up until now I didn't realize it was called opportunity.
Brings to mind something I have mentioned previously, the job recommendation given to me by the Army following World War II. It was all summed up in one sentence: "Cared for and cleaned an M-1 rifle while living under adverse conditions and delivering direct fire upon the enemy."
That was it. An entire war condensed into nineteen words. You didn't need a degree from Harvard to see that when it comes to job recommendations this did not rate too far up on a scale of one to ten.
But now women in England are clamoring to have the same opportunity of perhaps getting their asses shot off. Perhaps they're confusing wars like WWII or WWI with something else. Perhaps they believe that in wars like those you go back to a base camp at night. They may be overlooking the complete lack of facilities when "I gotta go" becomes uppermost in mind. Or it could be they don't realize that animal-like behavior rises to the surface when men get serious about killing other men and that sometimes they fall into the hands of those they have been trying to kill. That brings to mind the dreaded word rape.
Maybe they've forgotten the protective feelings men develop for women who are with them. Israel found that had a disruptive effect when a woman was wounded so integration in the infantry was scraped. Then there is the development of affection for members of the opposite sex. That can lead to many things, jealousy included.
How about the back-breaking loads that have to be carried when exhaustion isn't far off? Could most females handle it month after month or would their loads have to be added to that of men already close to the breaking point?
Integrating the sexes is fine under certain conditions. If there are base camps and that sort of thing it can work. What happens, though, if something like either world war occurs? It's best not to even think about it under the best of conditions. Add women to the front line mix and . . . well, forget it.
So ladies, I assure you we are not talking about opportunity. Think major war, think the Somme or Verdun, think Iwo Jima or the Bulge, then be thankful for the opportunity to be somewhere other than an infantry rifle company on the front line when there really is a front line.

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