In response to Brandon Wales’ Oct. 1 op-ed, “U.S. military should be trained to fight and win wars, not sexism,” (p. 5) we would like to present a viewpoint based on real experience in gender-integrated training aboard combat ships in the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Wales presents a narrow, highly-generalized opinion regarding the utility of women and men training together to “fight and win wars.” He cites the failed provision of the 1999 National Defense Authorization Act to correct “a patently-flawed system of gender-integrated basic training” as “one of its most damaging components.”

Yet, this opinion is disputed by senior Defense officials. Gen. Nash states, “In Bosnia, the performance of women was indistinguishable from that of their male counterparts.”

Further, in a press briefing, a representative of the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense said, “The fact is that they (women) perform no better nor worse than men.”

Today, 99 percent of positions in the Air Force, 94 percent of positions in the Navy, 67 percent in the Army and 62 percent of the Marine Corps are open to any qualified individual regardless of gender. It should be noted that many of the positions closed to females are closed to males as well because some are not physically qualified to serve in these positions due to weight, height and strength requirements.

What is the point of segregating training for the Air Force and Navy when more than 90 percent of the jobs they will have will expose them to mixed-gender units?

We also feel Mr. Wales has taken the actions of a few service members and grossly generalized them to make his point. A representative of the Office of Secretary of Defense acknowledged, “(when) the number of gender-related incidents are put in the context of the fact that we have a force of 1.5 million, the number amounts to a fraction of one percent of the force.” Surely, defense policy cannot be based on such a small percent of the armed services.

Further, Mr. Wales seems to think that physical qualifications are the only qualifications the military employs to qualify its service members. Perhaps the most important qualifications – intelligence, moral courage, professionalism and the highest standards of character – are ignored in his analysis.

Despite the misgivings of some, we have personally trained and served side by side in gender-integrated situations and will continue to do so without disrupting good order, discipline and morale.

While we think Mr. Wales is certainly entitled to his opinion, as the future of our force, we would like to encourage educated readers to seek out actual service members who have served in mixed-gender units.

Today, about 195,000 women (13.5 percent of total forces) serve in active duty positions. Integration is a not a smooth road today, nor was it when minorities integrated the forces, but it is a necessary one to meet readiness requirements and to effectively defend our freedom and our lives.

-Midshipman Maro is battalion commanding officer and Midshipman Jones is battalion executive officer of the GW NROTC unit. The opinions expressed here are their own.