In December, 2001, the U.S. Army asked a panel of senior officers to examine the usefulness of training male and female recruits in the same basic training companies. Only recruits headed for combat units (infantry, armor, artillery, Etc.) are trained in all male companies. Mixing men and women in basic training has long been seen as an inefficient sop to feminist politicians. When the panel finished their study, they agreed that the policy was inefficient, but recommended that it be kept anyway. Left unsaid was the acknowledgement that no one really wanted to get involved in a spat with Congress over this. The military has long since learned that as long as some stupid policy doesn't get a lot of people killed in an obvious way, just keep your mouth shut and do what the politicians want.