First female four-star U.S. Army general nominated  

That is awesome. It is not something we hear about often, women's achievement in the area of the military. I mean 57 women as generals and admirals is something to be proud of, but I haven't heard anything of that even from the feminist community. I wonder why not. Perhaps because most of their anti-war stance (from the NOW people)?

I can see no reason why women should not attain the highest military ranks. In the UK no woman has yet made it past Brigadier (1 star, Dunwoody is a 3 star). I have met some very able military women, although some of them are more masculine in their approach to matters than most men! But that's simply because they have had to jostle with the mostly male crowd to get to the top. We don't have female Infantry and cavalry troops but it doesn't stop them getting killed in combat. I am always slightly surprised at the media scrum surrounding a female death. We have just had four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, of those one was female. Admittedly she is the first female to die there, but the other three men seem to be almost a peripheral matter to the press. Personally I don't discriminate between the sexes where death is concerned. They were all good people killed in a pointless war.

That is great it is about time woman got recommended for just they can do just as good as the men if not better. It is great that they are being reconized as doing good at a job whether they be woman or man. They think woman are to emotional and that is why we have always been shunned for jobs. We have to prove ourselves worthy of the job over and over again while a man only has to prove himself once to be reconized.

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(Lt. Jordan O'Neil: [after being brutually beaten during a capture exercise] Master Chief...
Master Chief John Urgayle: Lieutenant, seek life elsewhere.
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Suck my @#$@!! duck billed platypus :)
[captive members of her team start shouting and chanting Hoo Rar after being silent to the Master Chief] )
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I was under the understanding that females in the army were rare. As such, it is nice to see four star generals from the rank and file of the female half of the species. Sort of egalitarian, sort of evolved as a society.

Through history, men have seemed afraid of women. Men have treated them as something that needed to be held down or kept in place lest it prove a bother, a trouble, or a danger. Women's suffrage was a big deal in it's day, but equality isn't fully guaranteed. I do believe, until recently, women in the army were thought of as not so far removed from gays in the army. Personally, I think a person brave enough to go to war for their country should get a pass where their gender and orientation are involved.

Although the drive for equality is a great one, it is also important to ensure that the standards for excellence are equal for men and women. This is related to the issue of lowering standards for minorities who seek admission to college. You get diversity, but the young minority individual doesn't have to work as hard. There are unfavorable consequences of such a system. Male, female, black, white, brown, or purple.. the standards to which a person is held should be blind to all factors other than qualifications for the task at hand.

I would not want a female promoted to the rank of general unless she is the most fit candidate. People's lives are on the line. A worry, or a fear, that come to mind is that.. in seeking diversity.. a less qualified person may be appointed to a specific position. With the army, or any military branch, the concern is that lives of young men and women hang in the balance protected only by the qualifications of their leader.

(Which is another reason I was terribly distraught when Bush was "elected" not once but twice.)

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Various included footnotes:
1) GI Jane, Movie -> ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119173/quotes )

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