Human Events reports that House Armed Services Chair Duncan Hunter and the Republicans on the committee amended the National Defense Authorization Act to expressly prohibit women on the front lines.

I wouldn’t be so absolutely discriminatory, but the conditions under which I would allow mixed combat would be very restrictive. Situational readiness demands that field command knows what his unit can or cannot do. This job is a lot easier, and an easier job saves lives, if the capabilities of each person in the unit are more or less equal. If a woman can meet the standard (not the reduced) physical requirements and avoid the fraternization that leads to pregnancy and sexual politics within a unit, then she can pack her bags. Placing her in an all-woman unit if she meets standard requirements would seem to be fine, but units get combined frequently for larger missions.

A National Review article reported in December that meeting these simply stated requirements—be as strong as a man, stay healthy, and be a teammate—is pretty hard to do:

(T)he female soldier is, on average, about five inches shorter than the male soldier, has half the upper-body strength, lower aerobic capacity, and 37 percent less muscle mass. She has a lighter skeleton, which leads to a higher incidence of structural injuries than for men…Only 10 percent of women can meet all of the minimum physical requirements for 75 percent of the jobs in the Army. Women may be able to drive five-ton trucks, but need a man’s help if they must change the tires. Women can be assigned to a field artillery unit, but often can’t handle the ammunition.

Restricting those who fight and those who are around fighters saves not only the lives of women (chivalry’s dead, right?) but everyone in a unit that depends on the capabilities of each person. Since all soldiers go through PT and evaluations, this information is already known, so there is no information savings to be had by just using gender as a criteria to let someone in a unit. Those that can fight, should, and those that can’t can traverse the career path of the officer who never sees combat.