Rick Santorum’s War on the Warriors

Yes we have heard this song before, and it is no sweeter referring to women in battle than it was referring to gays in combat or to a woman in the Oval Office.   As Jon Soltz recounts it at HuffPo   (and the video is embedded, so please do hear it from the horse’s mouth),  this is Santorum’s take on female troops in combat roles.

Jon Soltz

Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, Iraq War Veteran

Santorum Insults Women Who Served in Combat

Rick Santorum has no idea what’s happening in our military.On CNN, asked by John King if he agreed with a recent Pentagon decision that would formally open up front-line roles for women in combat, Santorum said, ” I think that could be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission, because of other types of emotions that are involved.”

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*SIGH*  Where to begin?  New Hampshire, 2008, Hillary Clinton mists over for a moment talking about why she has taken on the punishing task of running for president, and we hear charges that a woman is too emotionally unstable to lead the country.  Iowa, 2012, Newt Gingrich chokes up á la John Boehner (pick a day and issue), and it is fine.

We heard plenty of “what ifs” in the run-up to the repeal of DADT.  OMG!  You cannot put gay troops in the trenches much less the barracks and the (Heaven forefend) showers with straight troops!  Chaos will surely ensue!

So now we have a prospective Commander-in-Chief suggesting that trained female combatants might act differently from the way their male counterparts do based on … um?  Emotions?

I do not hold the honor of having served in the military, but I know this.  Troops act upon orders – not upon head or heart – upon orders, and those orders in turn are given by those with the rank and training to make battlefield decisions.  Troops act in tandem as teams.  It does not matter if your teammate is male,  female.  straight, or gay.  There is a job, and your team is under orders to do it.

What Rick Santorum is thinking is way beyond my ability to imagine, but Soltz brilliantly explains exactly how and why female troops are especially valuable in the field given the cultural medium within which our military is currently operating.

We have a volunteer military.  It is the best in the world.  We all should be proud of every single one of those who choose to serve.  I have never had a moment of trepidation that sexual issues would interfere with action in combat.  Santorum should be ashamed.

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