Our brave girls in uniform face the enemy. Are they in combat roles, or not?

A suicide car bomber and gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying female U.S. Marines in Fallujah, killing two Marines and leaving another four American troops presumed dead, the military said Friday. At least one woman was killed and 11 of 13 wounded were female.

The terror group al-Qaida in Iraq claimed it carried out the bombing, one of the single deadliest attacks against the Marines – and against women – in this country. The high number of female casualties spoke to the lack of any real front lines in Iraq, where U.S. troops are battling a raging insurgency and American women soldiers have taken part in more close-quarters combat than in any previous military conflict.

1732 members of the American military have died since the start of the war, thousands more have been wounded. Eleven women were wounded in this attack. But the government has been good to its female military personnel, footing the bill for all sorts of surgeries, so I’m sure they will be well taken care of.

Explaining why women don’t belong in combat positions, R. Cort Kirkwood says:

Lastly, assigning women to combat, or even combat support units like the 507th, purposely subjects them to trials and tribulations for which nature has not prepared them. Such assignments endanger not only the women but also the men around them, who will redirect their attention from fighting toward protecting or helping the women. Men will do that because they are men, because regardless of feminist propaganda, good parents teach their sons about chivalry and honor. The Steinem brigade doesn’t like it, but it’s true nonetheless. Thus, men will die unnecessarily. That is immoral and unjust, as is ordering married men and women to live in close quarters where they are tempted to adultery. Some observers even question the legality of orders sending women into combat. But that is a debate for another day.

I think it’s time for that debate to happen. And unless Christians are willing to take a stand on the biblical distinctives between men and women, they won’t have a first amendment leg to stand on when draft registration is required of their daughters.