Women in War

As an Army infantry officer with some combat experience, I wholeheartedly agree with David French (“Social Justice at War,” October 5) that arbitrarily declaring that women will serve alongside men in all combat roles is reckless and morally dubious. The brotherhood and camaraderie of a fighting unit is the intangible, immeasurable element of warfare that our civilian leaders cannot bring themselves to begin to understand. I have seen women’s presence in pseudo-combat roles degrade that esprit de corps (through no fault of their own) simply due to human nature. In a combat environment, this is an unforgivable risk for the “reward” of someone’s perception of equality.

That being said, I have the unique experience of working with my wife — also in the Army, and in my infantry battalion. She serves in a support role but nonetheless quite literally runs laps around many infantrymen in our unit. She recently competed in a physical-fitness assessment (push-ups, sit-ups, five-mile run, and twelve-mile ruck), placing eighth out of over 500 infantrymen. The scores were based on raw data, i.e., there were no scaled scores based on gender. Needless to say, she performs far above the “weakest men.”

First Lieutenant Jon Broderick

Fort Bragg, N.C.

I’ll Be Hornswoggled!

National Review really stooped low with the October 19 cover. That characterization was simply shameful. Not even Thomas Nast’s lampooning of Boss Tweed reached such depths. Such an insult to Yosemite Sam is unforgivable.

Don Culver

Edgewood, Ky.

Correction

“The Road to Better Bridges” (Jay Weiser, November 2, 2015) stated that, at the time of publication, construction had not yet begun on the Bayonne Bridge in New Jersey. In fact, construction began in May 2013; although it suffered a two-year setback, the bridge is expected to open in mid 2019.