For shielding her injured comrades and treating them while under fire, a woman medic in the 82nd Army Airborne Division will be awarded the Silver Star. Spc. Monica Lin Brown, a 19-year-old from Texas, is will receive the award for showing valor by saving the lives of 5 other soldiers after a road-side bomb attack left them injured and insurgents opened fire on the group as they moved about 500 yards away from the fighting. Only one other women has received the Silver Star for actions since World War II.

It’s getting close to the time that we admit that women can indeed fight alongside men, and can handle the stress and challenges of front-line duty. The actions in Afghanistan and Iraq have made the current restrictions against women in front-line roles relatively meaningless as intense action can happen anywhere, and we have women working and fighting along with men today as a result, and showing great valor and honor in the face of the enemy. I would not want my wife or nieces to have to fight on the front line of any battle, but neither any of the men in my family.

I still promote the responsibility of men to lead their homes and not subject their wives to taking on the leadership by abandoning the responsibility (although leading is still a cooperative venture), but any woman that is will to fight and die for her country should be given to the full opportunity to take on that honor as fully as any man.

Monica, bravo and thank you, thank you, thank you for serving your country, and protecting me and my family. You honor your country, your state, and your family.

Hat Tip to Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard.