Two women (1st Lt. Shaye Haver, 25, and Capt. Kristen Griest, 26) have overcome the grueling training required to become Army Rangers.  I’ve got to take my hat off to them because God knows I could never have done it. I was wiped out watching the footage of the things they had to do to graduate from the program. I almost spilled my latte.

Seriously, it’s amazing that anyone can complete training like this or what the Navy Seals have to go through and then go on to do the work that training is supposed to prepare them for. This isn’t like the fat guy down the street telling you he did an Iron Man twenty years ago. This is just the beginning of a career-long Iron Man.

But it may not be the beginning for the two female graduates. They may not actually be able to use their training in the intended circumstances because it’s uncertain as to whether they’ll be allowed into combat situations.

We – not just the US, but all of Western society and probably the world over – have a long history of deciding in advance that certain people can’t do certain things because of their gender or race or sexuality. There’s usually no science or any other type of evidence behind these notions. At best, they’re “conventional wisdom.”

At various times the conventional wisdom was that women were too emotional to be doctors or lawyers or politicians, too weak of mind to be scientists, too weak of body to be firefighters or rangers. Blacks were too feeble-minded to be anything but servants. Latinos were lazy. Asians were too untrustworthy for anything at all.

It’s a strange comment on us that there has so seldom been an attitude of letting people try things and either succeed or fail on an individual basis. Outside of a need to maintain the power structure, why did we ever keep women or blacks or Latinos or Asians or anyone else from trying to be doctors and lawyers and scientists? If they succeeded, we’d have had more doctors and lawyers and scientists; if they failed, they could move on to something else. Survival of the fittest. If the conventional wisdom was correct, they’d all fail, nothing would change and the white guys at the top would have actual proof of their beliefs. If they succeeded . . . well that’s where the problem would come. Then the white guys would have to give up a little, share their perqs.

Sad, isn’t it? To remember that it was only vanity and greed and fear and flat-out hate were the only reasons that kept the power structure in place for so long. It’s not news. We all know it, but some won’t admit it. You can’t blame them. Who would want to just give it up?

Now I realize that the military is somewhat different from a regular job. As I said, I’ve got nothing but admiration for people who do the work they do. The trouble is that the military only ever has one argument against change – it will compromise morale and America’s ability to protect itself. Sounds pretty logical, except that it’s been proven wrong almost every time it’s been used. Integrate the services? Can’t. It would compromise morale and America’s ability to protect itself. Take a look:

Nevertheless, the services are still intact and we’re still protected. The military has adapted and continued doing their very difficult job. So why should the current use of the argument hold any water? It shouldn’t. If women can do the job, they should be allowed to do the job. My vote is  for Lt. Haver and Capt. Griest.