[Dimaldaeon]

As for children fighting in wars we must think of then and not now. Now the only real qualification to fight is the ability to use a gun and that really only needs index finger muscles. If anyone has ever held a sword, axe or other medieval weapon you will realise that you need reasonable upper body strength to use one. We must also blame hollywood for the belief that a bow is easy to use. In films we see the bow being the weapon of women, this may stem from the ancient Greek belief that the bow is a cowardly and effiminate object of course this was also the view towards trousers until the middle ages.<BR>In films actors use injected silicon bows whch bend with (fairly) little effort however to use an ash or rowan longbow you would need shoulders like a bullock's.<BR>As to women taking part in battles this may have something to do with the Catholic Church banning it in the Early Middle Ages. The sight of women having their breasts sliced off and being impaled on barbed poles and dragged never did go down well with most people.Donal O'Neill mentions this in his novel Crucible about St Patrick and St Columcille