Can we cut Rick a little slack???

In a moment of discussing a variety of weighty matters, someone popped Rick Santorum a question about women serving in military combat units. He responded with a lame answer - something involving emotion - and has caught a bit of heat. Dumb move for a political candidate. But let's think about this for a moment.

As a small boy, one of first social rules laid down for me was 'Don't hit girls'. Okay... most of the girls my age were a little smaller than me, and that seemed a reasonable restriction. After all these many decades, I have never hit a girl.

Small boys like to use coarse language and discuss gross subjects. The more disgusting, the better. Next rule: 'Don't use coarse language or discuss gross subjects in front of girls'. Small boys think farts are very funny... but, guess what, I grew up thinking girls never do anything so disgusting as to fart!

I was taught that if you walk along the sidewalk with a girl, you walk on the outside, shielding her from the traffic. If you come to a door, you open it and hold it open for her. If you are on a crowded bus where all seats are occupied, and a woman boards, you stand and offer her your seat. (I did that in Mexico once and a lot of people stared at me like I was crazy. But, this is America.) I was never given a reason for special treatment for girls, none was needed, it was just the way it was supposed to be.

I had four sisters, so I certainly knew that girls could be tough, smart and fully capable, but they are still girls. 
The rule was 'Be a gentleman - treat her like a lady'.

Now someone wants to give her a rifle and send her off to the bloody battle, denied the amenities of a civilized existence, forced to crawl through the mud while being shot at, keeping her rifle clean in case she has to shoot someone. Having to use a slit trench for a bathroom. Eat crappy G.I. food with no way to brush her teeth afterward. Being barked at by a non-com for the slightest transgression. Not the way it is supposed to be.

When I entered the Army, well over a half century ago, there were guys who were rejected, considered unsuited for military service. Today, there will be women also deemed unsuited for the role. But gender is not a factor in either case.

So, out-of-the-blue some dummy asks you if you think women should fill the boots of a combat soldier. You can't say they aren't smart enough, because you know damn well they are. You cannot say they are not physically fit for the tough stuff, because you know many of them are. You can't say they lack the mental toughness, because you know that, also, is untrue. And, certainly, you can't say 'because it just ain't supposed to be'! That is, if you hope to win your election. You can gibber like an idiot and say something about emotion... but that, too, could derail your political ambitions.

You could say it depends on the woman and those persons setting standards for combat soldiers, but that may require some thought, time for which politicians are not often allowed - and that may also be wrong.

And even if your brain knows its okay for women to be combat soldiers... your heart still insists that's just not the way it is supposed to be.