Women have a role to play in the front line

SIR – Women have been finding themselves on the front line in battles for millennia, untrained, unarmed and encumbered by their children, and elderly relatives (Letters, December 27). In this perilous state they have been slaughtered or left no choice but to submit to whatever indignities their male aggressors dish out.

It can do nothing but good to have them armed and equipped at the front line. They would, as in all other walks of life, be as effective as men, with perhaps the added benefit of giving better help and support to non combatants caught in the crossfire.

Chris Derome

London SW1 SIR – The prime consideration for the Armed Forces has to be operational effectiveness. Size, strength and stamina are important.

In the Great War men whose growth had been stunted by poor nutrition in our industrial cities were encouraged to join “bantam battalions”. These were a failure and were disbanded.

Peter Richards

Poole, Dorset SIR – Standards of physical fitness and strength should be the same for all irrespective of gender.

To compromise on standards in the Armed Forces, either by lowering them for persons of a particular gender or by lowering them overall, would be irresponsible.

Hugh Gibney

Athboy, Co Meath, Ireland SIR – The integration of women into the combat arms, particularly the infantry, should not be a question of “what women want”. It should be about what the Army needs, regardless any other lobby. Christopher Miers London SW6