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FILE - In a May 9, 2012 file photo, Capt. Sara Rodriguez, 26, of the 101st Airborne Division, carries a litter of sandbags during the Expert Field Medical Badge training at Fort Campbell, Ky. The Pentagon is lifting its ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall, File)

Soldiers weigh in on women in combat

January 24, 2013 @ 12:29 pm (Updated: 10:46 am - 1/25/13 )

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says not everyone can meet the qualifications to be a combat soldier, but everyone deserves a chance as he announced Thursday the Pentagon was lifting its ban on women in combat.

Panetta says he believes women have become an integral part of the military's ability to succeed.

But the decision is sparking mixed reactions among local service members who called in to the Luke Burbank Show Thursday.

While none doubted the qualifications of some women to fully perform in combat, many questioned their effect on service men, arguing the presence of women is a strong distraction physically and emotionally.

Listen: Service members react to news of Pentagon lifting ban on women in combat

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  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    I want to see a female become a Navy Seal.
    January 24, 2013 12:23 pm
    .
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  • irony wrote...
    that's not the point...
    January 24, 2013 4:33 pm
    we don't need another jessica lynch tied up in a jail that was used as a rape room. what are people going to do seeing a beheading of a female soldier and their kids are watching the news that night. kurtwood smith would have something to say about it.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Durring WWII, the Soviet Army had whole companies of women soldiers.
    January 24, 2013 2:04 pm
    Fought quite effectively, by the way. ... And I believe Israel allows women in combat.

    The question becomes what of mixed combat units? .. And the answer in modern warfare is probably nothing unusual. .. Unlike past wars, even through View Nam, where units spent extensive time in the field, modern combat soldiers are often back as base within a few hours. And combat is often a day job like mess or quartermaster duty.

    What we are then left with is the physical demands of combat. Woman or man, if you can't do the job, you should not be there.

    So, then. Women in combat od OK. - just not MY granddaughters.

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  • irony wrote...
    well now they will be.
    January 24, 2013 4:35 pm
    and only dems have said draft so with a dem in the whitehouse and noise about preventing iran getting a nuke they just might be put on the front line. say good bye to your daughter and or grand daughter if they're old enough to draft.
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  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    It's not whether you win or lose in war, it's how hard you try?
    January 31, 2013 9:01 pm
    Think of a football game where the players also use knives and guns. Once into the endzone though, the offense doesn't stop, it keeps going up into the stands and into the crowd which is unarmed/disarmed and unorganized. They continue until the stadium is cleared. If your in the stands, how many women do you want on your "Reality" team? (p.s. a forfeit is not a tie)
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