Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Panetta announced that some combat positions would be opened up for women. One of my co-workers asked me what I thought about this. Should we let women in combat?

I have radically changed my opinions on several issues after watching over a decade of war. One is that nation building is utter bullshit. It’s a lesson we should’ve learned with Vietnam, but we keep making it over and over. Another is that the traditional battlefield no longer exists. The battlefield is wherever the military is operating in theater.

So what do I think of women in combat? FSM, they’ve been in combat for a decade. One of my former roommate’s ex-girlfriends was a former Marine injured in Iraq by a mortar attack. Supply convoys have been ambushed and female officers and NCOs have been leading their troops in some nasty battles. They’ve already proven they can fight. So why not allow them into combat teams now? That way we can get the regs and training meted out before advances in power armor truly level the playing field between men and women.

My caveat to this is that I would expect a female infantry soldier to meet the same basic requirements as a male infantry soldier. To do otherwise would ruin unit cohesion at best, and put combat teams at risk at worst. I would also expect that women should either be forced to sign up for selective service, or more appropriately abolish this relic of a bygone time.