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WASHINGTON, D.C., December 2, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The integration of women into combat roles in the U.S. military has run into an ironic problem: charges of sexism against those in charge of implementing the new policy. 

As reported by Politico last week, Colonel Lynette Arnhart – who until Friday headed the team of specialists implementing integration – wrote in e-mails that “ugly women are perceived as competent while pretty women are perceived as having used their looks to get ahead.” She suggested that rather than using only photos of attractive soldiers, in its PR push the Army should “select more average looking women.”

Those comments led to Arnhart and one other official being relieved of their duties on Friday. 

The integration of women into combat roles is a multi-year policy created by then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in January 2013. According to Major General Howard Bromberg, the goal is to have full implementation by 2020 with equal standards for all – “not [a] male soldier or female soldier,” but the “Soldier of 2020.”

The issue of women in combat roles has been debated for decades. Last month, three women passed the Marine's infantry training for the first time while being held to the standards of male candidates. In the Army, however, men and women are still held to different standards as of 2013. For example, 17-21 year-old men need 42 pushups to pass Basic Training, but women in the in the 17-21 age group only need 19 pushups to pass. 

Critics argue that political correctness and public relations will eventually lower the standards for men, as well as create situations where unqualified personnel are fighting on the field of battle, putting themselves and others at heightened risk. 

According to Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness, “the Army is trying to ignore or disguise with gender-normed standards” the natural differences between men and women. 

Reason Magazine video producer Amanda Winkler – whose work has a focus on veterans, and whose short film “Picking up the Pieces,” about how a veteran's family recovers from his time at war, is playing around the country – told LifeSiteNews.com that “serving is a privilege, not a right.” 

“It is good that this sexist PR push is being punished, but let's look at reality: female bodies are not designed to take the physical punishment that male bodies are,” she said. “Therefore, it's not a good thing for the taxpayer-funded military to spend dollars ineffectively by putting women in combat roles.” 

In July, 15 female Marines were offered the opportunity to speak with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel about integration. Among other critiques, issues of housing and sanitation – currently men and women are given different barracks in training and on active-duty bases to discourage fraternization – were raised. 

Earlier this year, one military wife argued that one military problem – infidelity – will be exacerbated by the Administration's decision to integrate women into combat roles. She thanked Panetta for effectively “making a bad situation exponentially worse” for those who stay behind.