Give me a break, GOP.  If you've looked at some of the other threads you'll find out that Delta_Xana is a lot like you, in that she is a teenager interested in military service.  The debate of whether or not women should be serving in combat is one that is worth studying.  I would agree that women should not be allowed to serve in combat as a matter of policy, but the fact of the matter remains that women have been fighting and dying in active combat in Iraq and Afghanistan while the rest of us have been debating the subject in the safety of our homes.  During my law enforcement career I have met a few women that would give a lot of men a run for their money.  Physiological factors are a huge factor in this debate, however, and those factors should be discussed from the standpoint of how they would affect a unit's combat effectiveness.  A women SF trooper may hang in there physically and mentally with the guys, but if she develops an infection from inadequate hygiene and becomes a casualty or gives away the unit's position, then that is a problem.  Sophomoric humor about how gross that is does not contribute to the debate in any way.  Women can be very effective operators in certain missions.  I know a female police officer that used to work narcotics.  Her cover is that she was a stripper, and she looked the part.  She was able to infiltrate certain drug houses that would have been off limits to male narcotics officers.  Women have served as police officers for several decades, and there are many women serving on police SWAT units.  This demonstrates that women can serve effectively in direct action (DA) missions.  I seriously doubt that we will see many female SEALs or Rangers in the near future, but the debate will continue nonetheless.  If you feel such a debate is "retarded" then do us all a favor and not contribute. 

The "debate" has been solved long ago. It is obvious that Women simply aren't cut out for *MOST* Special Operations work...not only the fitness aspect, but also the whole hygiene issue. Police officers do not go on long RECCE missions that lasts up to 2-3 weeks. The debate shouldn't be a debate. It should be an open and closed discussion. Again, let's look at the obvious facts:

1) Physical Fitness! There is so much more to SOF selection courses than simple physical fitness tests. I would guess that a few women could score high enough on their branche's PFT to qualify for their SOF selection course, but how are they going to make it when they have to do 500 pushups, 600 situps, 100 pullups, 1,000 flutter kicks, then run 4 miles, then do IBS surf passage, then have to knock out more pushups for being punished for whatever they did wrong, then have to do a obstacle, et