Combat Roles for Women

Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, Air Force chief of staff, said, “I still think it is not a good idea for me to have to order women into combat. Combat is about killing people” (“U.S. Military Chiefs Oppose Combat Roles for Women,” July 31).

In other words, it is OK for generals to order male pilots to kill women and other civilians, as was done in Baghdad, Panama, Vietnam, Korea and World War II, but it’s not OK to order female pilots to line up a bomb sight and push a button.

Is there a code of Air Force chivalry for generals that requires a general to say that females should be spared from killing civilians and soldiers? And it is within that same code to require males to kill women? Some chivalry.

The general’s statement reflects machoism in the mind-set of many career officers. One can only wonder what all the Air Force generals and Navy admirals would feel if some women pilots outperformed male pilots in the top gun schools or in Air Force navigation and bombing competitions. Or if Navy female pilots sexually abused and harassed male pilots at Tailhook conventions.

JOHN M. FRETER, Yucca Valley