Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 76

This chronic heat exposure could compromise male
fertility. However, the contribution from the male partner to infertile heterosexual couples is often difficult to
identify without comprehensive clinical workups, and
few studies have been conducted on infertility in male
soldiers.25 Consequently, the extent to which military
activities cause male infertility remains unknown.

Conclusion
We started with a U.S. Army of men, perhaps because
they were available and the women were already busy
with other work. It is not clear that men would have been

allowed into a women’s Army, when some of the physiological differences and vulnerabilities of men are considered.
The point is that there are challenges and advantages for both men and women, and we should call
attention to some of these male-specific health and
performance issues in just the same way we have identified issues for women. Unquestionably, it is time to
stop searching for what women cannot do and to focus
instead on how to get the best performance out of all
soldiers, both men and women. In this manner, we can
transform military culture to accept the greater effectiveness that comes with diversity.

Col. Karl Friedl, U.S. Army, retired, is a fellow in the Knowledge Preservation Program, Oak Ridge Institute for Research
and Education, and an adjunct professor of Neurology, University of California at San Francisco. He holds a BA, an MA,
and a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. During his thirty-year career, Friedl’s assignments included
conducting physiology research at Madigan Army Medical Center, directing the Military Operational Medicine Research
Program at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, commanding the U.S. Army Research Institute of
Environmental Medicine, and directing the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center.

Notes
1. “Dr. Mary Edwards Walker,” National Library of Medicine
website, accessed 13 January 2016, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_325.html. Mary Edwards Walker is the only woman to have received a Medal of Honor,
presented for her service as a civilian contracted surgeon during the
American Civil War.
2. Karl E. Friedl, “Biomedical Research on Health and Performance of Military Women: Accomplishments of the 1994 Defense
Women’s Health Research Program (DWHRP),” Journal of Women’s
Health 14(9) (December 2005): 764–802.
3. Claire C. Gordon et al., “1988 Anthropometric Survey of
U.S. Army Personnel: Methods and Summary Statistics,” technical
report, Anthropology Research Project, Inc., September 1989,
accessed 13 November 2015, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA225094&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf.
4. Friedl, “Biomedical Research.”
5. Claire C. Gordon and Karl E. Friedl, “Anthro