Allen West slams female soldiers: Why aren't women in the NHL?

Former Rep. Allen West (R-FL) on Thursday dismissed women in combat as a "foray" into an "equality trip."

The Department of Defense recently lifted its prohibition on women serving in combat positions. The military is expected to open 230,000 new positions to women.

"I have to tell you, if this is the case, then why do we have separate hockey leagues?" West said on CNN. "Women should be out there playing ice hockey with the guys in the NHL. We should not have a WNBA. I can’t shoot a three-pointer, but there are ladies who could certainly take me to the hoop. Maybe they should be competing with Kobe Bryant."

The former congressman and Iraq veteran blasted the "social experiment" earlier in the day on his Facebook page, suggesting that women could not be as effective soldiers as men. He warned that opening front-line positions to women "could potentially lead to the demise of our military."

"GI Jane was a movie and should not be the basis for a policy shift," he wrote on Facebook. "I know Martha McSally, have known women who are Apache and Cobra helicopter pilots, and served with women who were MPs, but being on the ground and having to go mano y mano in close combat is a completely different environment."

Watch video, via Mediaite, below: