Even though its identity is predominantly male, the army has many feminine characteristics. Being a member of the military requires “collective action, organization, submission, obedience, loyalty, and cooperation,” all of which are considered feminine qualities (Matthews 2009). Women have been indirectly involved in combat for many years as nurses and other medical personnel, all of whom are exposed to wartime combat. The Army's political definition of direct combat includes "engaging an enemy," "being exposed to direct enemy fire," and "closing in on the enemy" (Harrell). Women should not be excluded from any aspect, nor limited to certain aspects of the military when they join. Women should be allowed to be assigned to active duty military combat roles. Not allowing women to participate in active combat duty constitutes discrimination. The definition of discrimination according to the online Oxford Dictionary is “The unfair or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on grounds of race, age or sex” (Oxford Dictionaries). Women are treated differently because of their gender. Some may say that women are not strong enough to perform the tasks necessary to fill a military position, but they are not even given the same training, or even the same time to prepare to keep up with male units. . They carry out their daily work while the men train and prepare, then are simply randomly attached to the male unit at some point during the day to train (McNulty 2012). Men were also provided with new, lightweight versions of the equipment needed to train, while women were provided with older, heavier versions of the equipment. Several...... middle of article ......ica, CA: RAND National Defense Research Institute. Mather, M., Lighthall, N., Nga, L. and Gorlick, M. (2010, July 4). Sex differences in how stress affects brain activity during facial viewing. Accessed March 26, 2014, from http://www-scf.usc.edu/~nlightha/Mather_etal_NeuroReport.pdfMcNulty, SS (2012). MYTH BUSTED: WOMEN SERVE IN GROUND COMBAT POSITIONS. Air Force Law Review, 68119-165. Matthews, MD, Ender, MG, Laurence, JH, & Rohall, DE (2009). Role of group affiliation and gender on attitudes toward women in the military. Military Psychology (Taylor & Francis Ltd), 21(2), 241-251. doi:10.1080/08995600902768750Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved April 14, 2014 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/discriminationU.S Army (nd). Military Careers: Ways to Serve in the Military. Retrieved April 12, 2014 from http://goarmy.com