And Then There's Maude, the Infantry Grunt!

The Washington Times–of all places!–reports on the cutting edge of women's lib:

"Female Soldiers Eyed for Combat," reads the headline to a story that outlines how women may finally get to something other than lead Abu Ghraib prisoners around on leashes.

The Army is negotiating with civilian leaders about eliminating a women-in-combat ban so it can place mixed-sex support companies within warfighting units, starting with a division going to Iraq in January….

The problem is a 1994 ban signed by then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin that excludes women from land combat units. Mr. Aspin added an additional restriction. Women could not serve "where units and positions are doctrinally required to physically collocate and remain with direct ground combat units that are closed to women."

Les Aspin? Now there's a blast from the past.

Whole story here.

Wasn't there a Partridge Family episode in everyone gets drafted through a bureaucratic screwup and it turns out Shirley and Laurie are much better at the traditionally male activity of killing people in combat? If I'm remembering right, this is the one where Reuben dies in a tiger cage and Danny sells Keith's partially eaten K-rations to a couple of teenage fans.

Maude theme lyrics here. Tantalizingly partial (yes, yes, God will get me for that) audio here.