Should we compare Women Soldier integration with desegregation of African American Soldiers?

Depends from which perspective you look at it from. Ethnicity factor is TOTALLY insignificant when came to integration, and should've NEVER been one (a very sore spot in our country's segregated past history).

Gender factor however is quite a bit different. I don't discount many females out there ready to handle full grunt aspects better than male counterparts, but I've seen countless implications evolving in the process of integrating them into combat arms even on the Navy side.

They're still not allowed into hot spot specialties such as SEAL and SWCC, but I heard door has opened up for EOD, Divers, and SAR swimmers for females.

My final ruling: open the door for them into every MOS/rating/training/submarine, build some real-life evidence to work with, and then make calls based on FACTS and DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE. Equal opportunity, right?

SSG (Join to see). I see no real substantive difference . . . other than it has been a rather long time coming.
Warmest Regards, Sandy

There are Philosophical comparisons, and there are Functional comparisons.

Sure, we can make this is as a philosophical comparison. But we can do the same with DADT. What we cannot do, is make this as a Functional comparison.

Ignore the fact that we are talking about "people" for a moment. Let's work under the assumption we are talking about two similar "machines." Pieces of equipment. One piece of equipment (on average) is better suited for some roles than the other. That's really what the debate is about. That doesn't say the other piece isn't also good for other roles, just that the requirements of a specific role, require a specific piece of machinery.

As we go through the MOS, the vast majority can be filled by either gender. Even the Combat Arms MOS. However it's a return on investment question. The cost tends to be much higher on some of the physical based MOS, so it just doesn't make sense. Why break a tool, when they would be better suited somewhere else?

On the Marine Corps side, every enlisted Marine goes through Marine Combat Training at the School of Infantry, so we can call ourselves Riflemen (Not Infantrymen), men & women alike. We've had 4~ women make it through Infantry Training Battalion as well. They're test bedding women in Infantry Officers Course, without success, however everyone still goes through The Basic School.

So it would be disingenuous to say women can't cut it. We've got over a dozen years showing exactly how women can cut it "to a degree." It's just a case of finding out exactly where that line is.

Everyone that is fighting this, yelling about this, forgets one simple fact. Congress writes the checks. They make decisions. They have the Constitutional obligation to maintain a Navy & raise an Army. The President may command, but Congress "controls" the military in a very real fashion. Integration is coming, like a boulder down a hill. It may be slowed, but it won't be stopped.