William Cooper

UWRT 1104

Malcolm Campbell

8 Nov 2018

The Conversation: What others are saying

A number of high ranking military officials have recently suggested that females work in combat
roles has several fundamental problems.

Although I know better by now, I cannot help thinking that women are inferior to men when it
comes to physical tasks.

It has become common today to dismiss women as being combat experts.

The Art of Summarizing

After carefully reviewing all these facts,...

With all this in mind,...

What this really comes down to is…

The Art of Quoting

According to department of defense secretary Ashton carter: “There will be no exceptions”.

Beth Freeman's point is that women can become expert combatants with proper genetics and
training.

Kathleen Parker disagrees when she writes, “Among the evidence ignored by Obama, Carter and
others are the results of a nine-month field test by University of Pittsburgh researchers who
 found that all-male Marine Corps units outperformed mixed-gender units in 93 of 134 (69
percent) ground combat tasks.”

Ways of Responding to Source Material

I disagree with Secretary Carter’s view that women can effectively carry out combat roles
because, as recent research has shown, female units are not as effective as male units.

Although I disagree with much that Secretary Carter says, I fully endorse his final conclusion
that we need women to increase our numbers of combat ready soldiers, marines, sailors, and
airman.

Although I agree with Secretary Carter up to a point, I cannot accept his overriding assumption
that women are almost on the same level as men on a combat level.

Saying Why it Matters

These findings challenge the work of earlier researchers, who tended to assume that women were
not combat capable.

Ultimately what is at stake here is the safety and well being of all those in combat, as well as our
nation's military strength.

Although women in combat roles may seem of concern to only a small group of Americans, it
should in fact concern anyone who cares about our country