Since it already generated so much comment, I thought you (you know who you are) who are so opposed to women in combat should read this letter written by a woman who chooses to be in combat on the front lines in Iraq:

It is up to the individual American (man or woman) to make the choice to serve according to his or her capabilities and desires. What the public apparently thinks gender roles should be should not dictate legislation or hinder the inherent right of every American to choose to fight for his or her country...

By far the most important traits to have out here are intellect, discipline, and a hard work ethic. Those characteristics know no gender, either. I am an operations officer for a logistics regiment because I am good at it. I see more than a few men who are not effective in their mission-critical jobs because they lack basic leadership skills, have a weak backbone, cannot write well, or are not well-organized, etc. Or they have a combination of all of these traits. Why should good, well-trained, capable women have to leave the area of operations, then? And to be brutally honest, I can kill an insurgent as quickly as anyone. Except they do not stand and fight—-instead they hide exploding booby traps for us or lob us with indirect rounds. (Our convoys were hit with three IED’s—-and found another two-—just in the last week alone.) If they were within shooting range, ANY Marine would be more than happy to take them out. Hell, most of the insurgents are rather scrawny and short, and taking them down with some buttstrokes or other basic martial arts skills which we all learn is easily doable. We are here to kill the bad guys and to do it violently, and we do not take this awful task lightly. Bring it on.

Go read Girl Sailor for some more first hand accounts of women in the Navy. She just ran a series or responses to the accusation "Women are a distraction in the ready room."

If your XO says "women are distracting" he may mean he is distracted. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, other men may be, too? Thing is, you are there and if they are distracted they have to deal with it. If you acknowledge it you give them due respect but put the ball back in the XO's court (as leader) to handle it. I mean, if his men get distracted by one harmless person in the ready room, how will they handle AAA in Iraq? Now that's distracting.