May 28

A continuing comment from Memorial Day.  Women are now eligible for infantry combat duty.  This is a huge mistake, pushed no doubt by people who never wore the uniform and who do not really know what combat entails.  The argument seems to be that women are in harm's way now, so why not allow them to serve in infantry units? The answer is there is a big difference between being in harm's way and being in combat.  Day after day, and week after week, under conditions that test the very strongest, everyone's body breaks down.  Women will tend, strongly tend, physically to break down faster.  Can it be otherwise when the average female is 20% smaller than the average male?  Even particularly strong women will simply not be able to keep up, and will be a drag on the unit.  This will increase casualties, both male and female.  If anyone wants women to have the chances men have, it is me.  Patricia and Katherine are the most important people in my life.  Gender discrimination is anathema to me.  But some rare times it is justified.  Combat is one of those times.

Finished the last of my course of antibiotics today.  Hard to believe I could feel so rotten soon after getting here and feel so decent now.  Let's hear it for modern medicine!

Starting to get ready to depart Rivendell.  Helped run a few errands, hung out.  The revealing thing is my reaction to leaving.  I am apprehensive.  Forty years ago, despite how much I delight in being around my friends, I'd have been eager to get to the road, to see something new, feel the wind on my face.  Now I am apprehensive.  Patricia, who understands me very well, knows this is one of the reasons for this trip.  It is one of the reasons she encouraged it.

Baron Von Richthofen was asked how he went into the air time after time.  He said, "One must conquer the inner schweinhund."  I remember going to the Austrian Alps while I was in high school.  Went walking on one of the ski slopes late on a cold, clear December night.  The slope was bordered on two sides by dense pine forest, and I suddenly felt an unreasoning fear of that forest.  But there was no reason for the fear, so I forced myself to walk into the pines before turning around and heading for the lights and bed.  I've taken that walk into the trees many times over the years.  This trip is partly another walk into the dark forest.  There are many ways to grow old.  One way is to head for the lights without first going into the woods.  I intend to grow old only in years.

I guess today wasn't a normal blog.