Women Casualties in War

Great post over at Outside the Beltway on female casualties in Iraq. While the post notes

aside from a spike during the Jessica Lynch story, the public has been remarkably uninterested in this issue, accepting the death of female troops as natural as that of males.

In the past, the argument against female soldiers in combat is that America and male soldiers would not be psychologically equipped to handle female deaths.

I have always thought such a theory to be complete bunk. Admittedly, there are some vestiges of male chauvanism in the military, I find the military to be largely egalitarian on this issue. For most soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, the most important facet of the person next to you is whether they can do the job. Clearly female soldiers are capable of most of the jobs in the military and thus America is willing to accept the fact that they have volunteered to be where they are and that they understand the potential consequences of their choice.

By the way, OTB has some great stats compiled regarding female casualties of war.