Slate is currently running another e-mail exchange between writers, this time writers Stephanie Gutmann
and Debra Dickerson on the topic of women in combat.

In her first letter, Stephanie Gutmann says:

The only people who truly want to see women in combat are some TV producers who think it's a "sexy" issue and approximately 500 cranks assembled on college campuses and in NGOs around the Beltway.

Wrong. Combat isn't "sexy". From what I've read and heard it is ugly and brutish. But I also believe in equality. Not just lip-service to the ideal of equality. And with true egalitarianism comes some cost. If you're qualified to be a police officer or a firefighter or any other civil position, you're qualified to serve in every role. And that includes serving our country on the front lines.

Have a look at the exchange. It's interesting. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and here's one that makes the argument most eloquently:

Via Electrolite, a British soldier in Basra.