Deployed men spend a lot of time thinking about women. They often think about their wives or girlfriends, or possibly all the women they would like to meet when they come home. To men, women are hope. Hope for a better quality of life, hope for family, hope for comfort away from war, hope for a future. Setting hope in front of the barrel of an AK-47 is not a good idea.

I am a combat veteran and am most likely going back very soon. Something that I have learned is that human nature always wins. I could tell you many stories about lonely men and lonely women in the military making bad decisions that hurt combat readiness, but there may be children reading this. Women are a necessity in an all-volunteer military, and many women are brave and capable; however, an all-male combat arms is going to be more combat effective and ready. Adding women to combat is going to add to the long list of problems the military has such as divorce, sexual assault and suicide, and does nothing to solve them. War is hard. Let us not make it harder.

-- ADAM RAMSEY, Kennewick