Woman Gains Silver Star -- And Removal from Combat

What do you think of this story--

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003415.html

This isn't about Brown receiving the Silver Star. That is awesome!!! It's about her being pulled from her combat unit.

Pfc Monica Brown received the Silver Star in March for repeatedly risking her life on April 25, 2007, to treat wounded comrades. She is the second woman since WW II to receive the nation's third-highest combat medal.

Within a few days of her heroic acts, the Army pulled Brown out of the remote camp in Paktika province where she was serving with a cavalry unit apparently because Army restrictions on women in combat barred her from such missions.

I guess what concerns me about this is that it makes what Brown was doing--supporting a calvary regiment--seem unique. I understand the soldiers were fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the fighting intensified, and she became a line medic. As a line medic, she spent days on combat operations--constant combat operations.

Was she pulled from the unit because of the intensity of the fighting? Is it okay for women to be in a firefight every other day or once a week, but not continuous, back-to-back missions ... at least not until they are found out? Thousands of our female service members support combat operations and are in harm's way on a daily basis. Apparently someone (a politician?) read about Brown and her Silver Star achievement and complained about her being attached to a combat unit? I think that whomever that was is very naive.

Women serving in noncombat roles throughout Iraq and Afghanistan face danger all the time. If the military pulled every woman who was serving in these countries and in danger, the size of the military and the success of its operations would be greatly reduced.

Once again we are denying our brave and courageous female service members the credit they deserve. I wish people would wake up and give credit where credit is due!!!