My signature say's it the way I see it.
"Through mud and blood, to the green fields beyond"
I don't believe that the field of battle is any place for a woman, pure and simple. Regardless of field exercise's on any level, section, platoon, battalion etc. nothing prepare's the soldier for real live combat.
I've seen combat in a few countries, I've seen how men behave through it and after it, and more importantly I've seen how men become too protective of women during combat. And that protective instinct extent's to his female comrades, which I feel is a bad thing. It's a mans natural instinct to protect a woman from all the harsh things in live and when that instinct is brought onto the battle field it's dangerous to both the male and female soldier plus everyone else in the unit.
I'm lucky enough in that I've never seen a female soldier killed in combat, but I've seen female civilians killed and the effect on male soldiers seeing a female killed as opposed to a male is huge. Now studies have shown that during combat the effect on the unit when one of it's females it killed is devastating in the extreme. These are natural emotions for a man to female towards women and no amount of political correctness, ie. telling us we're all equal etc. can change those instincts. During times of extreme danger it's a mans instinct to group together and protect 'women and children'.
Simply put women should be kept away from front line service.
Regards
Bouncer