Naturally they are - no one is denying it. And if a man wanted to be in the infantry, and he was a detraction, he wouldn't have the right to demand that "that's what he wants" either. The military does not give you what you want - the military tells you to do what it needs you to do.
It's not like any other job. It's not like your job.
It's a dictatorship. What you want
is irrelevant. If you have a decent chain of command they may try to
accommodate (they don't have to, but they might) it, but the instant that your want detracts at all from unit readiness, combat efficiency, or the needs of the military, it ceases to matter.
I have no problem with women contributing their time or risking their life to protect their country - women are probably actually physically situated to make better pilots (lower center of gravity), and I've served with women (see above) who were fantastic Marines, and supremely competent at their jobs.
But I
am someone who has the experience to know that putting women in the infantry will reduce their combat effectiveness. Again, this isn't about the wants, desires, dreams, or even (within some limits) the rights of the individual. Combat is a
team sport. We have, in our history, fought cultures who forgot that. Usually the kill ratios are very lopsided.
No. Because the introduction of sexual tension and the drama that comes with it into the infantry is a distraction they cannot afford. Horny is pretty much a constant state of being for an 18-22 year old male on deployment. There is no "getting" sex-deprived, you just
are. You are on deployment. :shrug:
Until they send out the Lioness teams. And that's when every single male Marine in a company of 190(ish) figures he has a 1/40 chance of finally getting laid, and those who think they can win (which, again, the infantry is self-selecting for aggressive, alpha-typologies, and are then trained to think that they are pretty much awesome) those odds, go for it.... distracting from the mission, ruining their focus, creating competition, creating cliques, destroying team cohesion, and degrading combat efficiency.
It is not fair to ask men to put at risk their lives in because women want to play GI Jane. If you
disagree with that relative valuation - again, we have a civilian governed military and we will do what we are told. But you at least owe us a recognition of the trade-off that you are telling us to make.