The role of women in combat and military positions extends back nearly 4,000 years, to include many cultures and nations. The roles these women have played start with the ancient warrior women and extend through history to include women serving in modern day conflicts such as Operation Iraq Freedom. Although assigned various roles in past societies on an ad hoc basis, women today are already on the "frontline" in today's armed forces.

The debate continues as to what role women should play as part of their military obligations. The response has been increased opportunities for women to serve outside the traditional roles they were relegated to in the past. This has occurred not only in the United States Armed Forces, but in many other nations as well.

The debate around service in the military for women is seen by some as sexual discrimination. Both sides of the issue argue that the physical and mental differences between men and women are a primary concern. Secondly, having opposite sexes on the battlefield creates primal responses that could endanger missions. And the third most heated part of the debate center around the traditional views of men as soldiers under combat conditions.

Several civilizations from early history on have wrestled with these debates as well. Societal responses have varied over the centuries. For example, some countries do not allow or even consider the possibility of women on the battlefield. While other countries such as the Soviet Union allows women to serve alongside their male counterparts.

Traditionally, women serve mostly in support roles. But in today's modern conflicts, where the "front line" is debatable, roles such as convoy escorts, military police, staffing checkpoints and firefighting account for women on the pseudo front line as part of mixed deployment units.

Combat roles have been very restrictive for women and only a few countries recruit women to serve in active combat roles. Countries such as Great Britain allow women to serve in artillery roles, but exclude them from dedicated infantry roles. On the other hand, the United States does permit women to assume combat flying positions but not necessarily any other positions that require their presence on the frontline.

So the arguments for women in combat positions are still on the table. Outside the physical differences between men and women, the mentality differences and the effects of one sex presence in the company of the other, in a combat situation, not a lot of additional debatable concerns exist.

The most obvious and hotly debated issue of women on the battlefield concern physical differences. The female skeletal system is obviously different from that of her male counterpart. Female soldiers may be more easily damaged during intense combat situations because there skeletal systems are less dense and more prone to breakage. Even though women are allowed to become fighter pilots, concerns regarding their ability to handle g-forces in modern fighter aircraft are becoming more of a concern.

The Navy continues to argue that female health issues when deployed on submarines is the primary reasons for avoiding female recruits for these combat situations. They also note that mixed-gender accommodations are problematic.

The traditional male solider has stated that such issues as trust in their female counterpart and romantic relationships as a disruptive influence on the fighting capability of the unit. They've also mentioned how female soldiers are typically shorter and smaller than men on average and have less upper body strength which might endanger the mission as a typical male response when seeing women struggling with lifting and carrying gets them somewhat out of character.

Further reaching issues subsist outside the more obvious reasons stated above.  For example, many are concerned about treatment of women prisoners of war.  The risks of being captured, tortured and sexually abused are unacceptable practices during war time and could cause unnecessary challenges for commanders deciding how to mitigate these situations.

Aside from the negatives, the US Government has been accused of not tapping into a potentially huge source of soldiers to meet increased manning requirements for military operations.

The arguments on this side of the aisle also accuse the US Government of creating sub class citizens by excluding women from serving in any position they desire in their military career. Equal opportunities aside, some accuse the military of honoring the traditional soldiering profession despite the equal opportunities we espouse in other areas of life.

As a professional "women solider" I can understand the concerns on both sides of the table.  But as a solider sworn to defend my country, I see no reason why women cannot serve in combat positions if they choose that as the motivating reason for their service to our nation.

For example, I had to defend against the enemy while out on patrol…I was in combat. Being a woman veteran of 15 years, serving two tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom I was in combat. I was traveling in a convoy that was receiving small arms fire and 3 km away an Improvised Explosive device denoted.  I was in combat.  My male counterpart did not look around to see if I was male or female.  He knew I was trained to make quick decisions based on the same training we'd both received.

We know as women we have strengths and weaknesses just like any other solider, whether male or female. No discrimination while training.  I must carry my load and know and be able to perform my duties as a soldier, not a woman. This is no difference than performing on the battlefield.

Recently, I conducted a survey of ten male soldiers. Each solider was asked "Should women serve in combat?"  8 out of 10 stated women are already in combat.  Some talked about their experience with women in hostile situations during guard duty or patrols in Iraq.  Some said they would rather have a woman by their side is some situation.  Most agreed that no matter what the debate is about women are in combat, women can provide an essential role as frontline combatants along with their male counterparts.