Female Legionaries

Well, my point was more of 'if your changes aren't improving, then they are likely weakening... which ISN'T what you want in your defense force'.

So, taking my stand back a little, if it moved 'sideways' (i.e. didn't make it better, but didn't make it worse) then I'd be ok with it.

Fair enough. Speaking as someone who hates having their routine disrupted, changing things that doesn't produce at least some beneficial effect is a bad idea. Shaking things up just to shake them up may have a role in some particular aspects of life (especially military life), but not on standards.

I'm concerned with the 'no matter what, we've gotta get women equal in everything' mentality.

You see, I hesitate to say this because it is always taken the wrong way... but men and women are not equal. That doesn't mean that one is worse than the other, or inferior to the other. Men and women are not mathematical symbols that mean that man = 2 and woman = 1 therefore man is twice as good as woman. Men and women are like truck and sports cars (deliberately exaggerating the point). You wouldn't want a truck to get you somewhere quick, but you wouldn't want a sports car to help you move your house. You pick the right piece of equipment for the right job. In some cases it really doesn't matter which piece of equipment you use, they can both do the job equally well, but they are NOT the same, and shouldn't be mistaken as the same.
Maybe "not equal" is the wrong phrase here, given the underlined bit seems to be what you're trying to say here.

"Not identical" avoids sounding bad without changing your meaning, at least as I'm reading it.

Personally, I'm glad women aren't the same. I just don't swing that way.

As long as they're equal in the sense women are capable of being people I'd want to be around (and equal rights), that's all this civilian wants.

Who'd want to spend time with the boring and odious?
 
But DominusNovus' points still stand - in a preindustrial, traditional society like Rome was, female soldiers simply make no economic or biological sense. Nowadays with the ways the modern military and family work female soldiers are perfectly feasible - but it couldn't have happened back then. Even if some small units of female soldiers could be trained to fight well (and I have no doubt they could) - large scale female military forces is unrealistic.

Cheers,
Ganesha

Tell that to the Sarmatians
 
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