Reality suffered another defeat Thursday, routed by the forces of Political Correctness. The army with a rainbow flag led in yesterday’s battle by Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who has ordered the military to open all combat positions to females.

According to one report, “Carter said that while moving women into these jobs will present challenges, the military can no longer afford to exclude half of the population from grueling military jobs.” Keep that “grueling” in mind. The report continues:

While noting that, on average, men and women have different physical abilities, Carter said the services must assign tasks and jobs based on ability, rather than on gender. He said that would likely result in smaller numbers of women in some jobs. Equal opportunity, he said, will not mean equal participation in some specialty jobs. But he added that combat effectiveness is still the main goal, and there will be no quotas for women in any posts.

Women are not just a little less strong and robust than men, but vastly weaker and less resilient, particularly among young adults, i.e. those who comprise our fighting forces. There is no reason to cite any “studies” to prove this most obvious of all human differences — but here’s one anyway; and here’s another.

If you find yourself doubting this most fundamental human inequality, then why aren’t you championing the complete removal of distinction by sex in the Olympics, or in any sport? Surely having male marathoners and male weight lifters and female marathoners and female weight lifters is unfair discrimination. Let all compete as one!

In effect, Secretary Carter agrees with this move. He says that only those women who can make the cut will be allowed in the most “grueling” roles. This sounds like a form of meritocracy, to which few would object. Only he’s lying.

“What?! Briggs, you fool. How dare you accuse this honorable man of misrepresenting himself!”

Sorry, but that’s the way it is. The goal of the Political Correctness Collective is not a meritocracy, but Equality. And Equality can’t be reached except by cheating or lying. The reason? Few to no women will be able to perform at the level required for combat. Having no women able to fulfill the combat roles that were previously men-only would make Carter look bad, so what will happen is this: (1) almost immediately, the standards will be lowered, (2) even with lowered standards, many women who still don’t make the cut will receive a pass.

Proof? When I was in the military back in the ’80s, Equality had already required that women not have to run the same distance as men in the same time, nor did they have to do the same number of push-ups, or any push-ups at all, really, since they were allowed to do the activity on their knees. But even though women were held to a much lower standard — and pay attention here — they were still called equal.

It hasn’t changed since my day at the dawn of Political Correctness. CNS News reported this already two years ago:

Females in the Marine Corps currently are not required to do even a single pull-up, and a deadline mandating that by Jan. 1, 2014, they be able to do at least 3 pull-ups as part of their training has been delayed for at least a year, the Corps quietly announced on social media. Unlike their female counterparts, male Marines have long been required to do at least 3 pull-ups as part of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT). That’s the minimum requirement for males. Female Marines are required, however, to do a flexed-arm hang from a bar, and their PFT score is calculated based upon how long they can properly hang on the bar.

Hanging from a bar has replaced being able to pull yourself over one. It’s worse than that. Marine officers told NPR “off-the-record that, given the three-pull-ups rule, they were afraid of losing ‘not only new recruits, but also current female Marines who can’t pass the test’” (emphasis added).

There you are. Standards have been lowered, and even those women who cannot do the new minimum are given a pass, just as I said would happen. It will continue to happen, only now on a grander scale. I’m willing to take bets on this.

Consequence? A less able armed forces; more injuries and deaths due to lack of stamina and physical capability, both of the women put where they haven’t earned a right to be and with the men alongside them. These in turn will cause the military to lose more. Simple as that.

Interestingly, Carter didn’t say he’d also be removing the Selective Service requirement which now only applies to men, who would be drafted in case of a genuine emergency. Even generals of Political Correctness aren’t completely stupid.