Thursday, January 24, 2013. Ban on Women In Combat removed.

The United States dishonored tradition, genetics, and the position of women in the world, by removing the ban on their being able to serve in combat on this day in 2013.

"Army Sgt. Christine Won, right, helps Capt. Danielle Rant adjust a rifle sling during a reserve officers military competition at Camp Ethan Allen, Vt., July 19, 2022. The three-day team event consisted of NATO and Partnership for Peace nations in Europe. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. David Graves)"

We don't usually post news stories that are only a decade old, but this is a socially significant story that resulted in the same trend being followed in most, but not all (maybe), Western armies.  It has not been a success, which is something that isn't supposed to be admitted at all costs.

Since the change, the percentage of women in the military, 15.6%, really has not gone up much.  Indeed, only about 1%.  This isn't really surprising as the role of soldier is frankly a male one with strong evolutionary biological components.  Moreover, on this note, it's worth noting that most position in the U.S. military are not combatant positions and have not been since some point prior to the Second World War.  Most combat troops, therefore, remain men.

We have a long dormant thread on this, which we'll now get around to completing, but the simple facts of the matter have been that physical standards have been relaxed, formally or informally, to accommodate women's generally weaker physical strength, sexual assault is a persistent problem for female military members which has defied efforts to address it, the close mixing of young men and women in roles in which they're much more exposed than normal has lead to frat house type of disciplinary problems, and accommodating the female body's natural cycles and roles has been acclimated to only because the US has not fought a war like the one going on in Ukraine since at least the Vietnam War, if not World War Two.

Socially, the only area in which those in the West seemingly will acknowledge biological differences are in sports, which interestingly are trivial, whereas war is not, even though much of the same considerations genderwise come into play.

Also on this day, a Japanese Coast Guard ship engaged a Taiwanese activist ship in the Senkaku Islands dispute

Russian police killed thirteen rebels in Vedeno District, Chechnya.  The Chechins are officially allied Russia in the current war in Ukraine, although a rebel group is fighting with the Ukrainians.