Women do not belong in combat. I say this as a woman, and a soldier. I've seen war firsthand in all its

ugliness and brutality. In 2017, I served in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in Afghanistan.

My job was to engage with local women, something my male colleagues

were discouraged from doing because of religious and cultural barriers. That access was critical

to our mission. I saw up close what our war fighters had to do to succeed, to survive, and to

protect civilians. I was as close to combat as you could get, and thank God I didn't

get any closer. I'm proud of my military service. There are many roles in the armed forces that women

can and should fill, but combat is not one of them. Until recently, it was conventional wisdom

not to put women on the front lines. The principle

that combat is a male burden has been nearly universal across civilizations. There's an obvious

reason for this. Men are, on average, stronger, faster, and more capable of delivering and

withstanding extreme violence. That's not a stereotype. It's basic

physiology. And common sense tells us, a society that places women, the bears of new life on the

front lines, is not prioritizing its future. Yet, in 2015, the Obama administration ordered the

full integration of women into all military

combat roles, including special operations and mixed-gender infantry units.

At the time, many of us in uniform knew this was a mistake, and we had the data to prove it.

A U.S. Marine Corps study that same year found that all male units outperformed mixed gender units in nearly every measurable category.

Mixed units had slower times and obstacle courses.

Women were six times more likely to suffer musculoskeletal injuries than men.

Women took longer to evacuate wounded comrades to safety. Where male Marines could do single-person

lifts, female Marines often had to revert to two-person drags, which were slower and less efficient.

...