The New Face of War?

My dad likes to send me links to Air Force news about women in the military. I don't know why he does, because I've never been in the military, nor shown any interest in ever joining. Maybe he does because he knows I'm a self-identified feminist, and, bascially, I dig chicks playing sports or sporting guns. Maybe he does it because he's cool. Either way, when I saw "POW video reopens gender debate" on msn.com this morning, it made me think of him.

Kari Huss asks if the new face of war is a woman's face, since we as a nation are unaccustomed to POW videos including a woman with a child at home. Huss writes, "It was...a reminder of the new face of war — one in which women are playing an ever expanding role closer to the front lines, adding to the debate surrounding their role in the military."

There was never any debate about women in the military for me; if a woman wants to fight, she should be allowed to fight. I was raised right next to Wright-Patterson AFB, so I've always had an understanding of military life, even if I never actually lived it. My dad works on base and just recently retired from the Reserves. In all honesty, I'm so glad he's retired right now, as glad as I am that a friend of mine can also no longer serve. I will admit that, selfishly, I don't want them to fight; I don't want them to die. But really, I don't want to see anyone killed--man or woman--and I don't understand the notion that somehow it is worse if a woman is killed in combat.