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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 17, 2025

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Aggression and physical conditioning are still very important to infantry combat, though- men sprint faster, jump better, etc. The physical advantages are all around, not limited to upper body strength(and given modern combat kit loadouts, this is likely less reduced in importance compared to the age of the phalanx than you might think). And non-infantry combat specializations might have different demands, but if one of them favored women the Israelis, Soviets, or North Vietnamese would probably have figured it out, and they didn't. IIRC competent artillerymen basically have to be male because it involves a surprising amount of moving heavy objects, at the very least.

Source, included in the record of a 2016 Senate hearing on this topic by John McCain