Honor Hero Cop: End Ban on Women in Combat

Thursday’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood was just the latest example of how there really is no front line for US troops these days; Iraq and Afghanistan are entirely battlefields. So women are already, in effect, in combat, and anyone wanting still more proof that they can handle it need look no further than Sgt. Kimberly Munley, the cop who took down Maj. Nidal Hasan.

Sure, a medal from President Obama would be nice, William Saletan writes, but there’s “a better way to honor Munley: End the ban on women in combat.” Indeed, “not every woman is capable of such feats. But not every man is, either,” he adds for Slate, noting that we’d never tolerate such an average-based rule against any racial or religious group.” “Wouldn’t our combat forces be stronger if they included the fittest men and women, instead of reaching deeper into the pool of unfit men?”
(More Fort Hood stories.)