I've tried to resist commenting on this post, in case you might think I'm poking fun at you, but - you do realize "Tunnel in the Sky" (I'm assuming that's the work you're referring to) is a work of fiction? And that it was written, moreover, by a writer who liked putting his female characters in situations where they had to go naked or semi-naked, probably because it helped sell his books?

I doubt there are many elite commando units in the world that send their scouts out half-naked and unarmed, and I'm inclined to doubt that Heinlein had any real combat experience. (He was a naval officer from 1929 to 1934, between the wars, and he worked as a scientific researcher for the Naval Experimental Air Station during the Second World War.)

He was a good writer but I wouldn't consider him an authoritative reference. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />