Yep. Your idea got a mention upstairs, sir. Good idea, too, but the question is, of what practical use would it be in combat?

What I mean by this is: if women are not strong enough or tough enough to handle even light infantry work, and can therefore be rolled up by anything ranging from light infantry to heavy armoured cavalry… what can they be used for other than cannon-fodder, and winding up the male troops?

That's what happened in your book, actually. The Tercio Amazonas were sent in to assault a position and got slaughtered, because they were the only unit available, and the all-male unit that followed them completed the job and massacred all of the defenders to boot because of their rage at seeing their women harmed.

Which in turn begs the question: what kind of culture treats its women as cannon-fodder, when – as you yourself once pointed out – they are essential for creating the next generation of cannon-fodder?

I reckon you probably agree with all of those points, sir. I'm just saying that, in general, having women in a military is a simply terrible idea.