Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Leave it to this Marine officer to make her case against women in combat in the Marine Corps Gazette:
Which once again leads me, as a ground combat-experienced female Marine Corps officer, to ask, what are we trying to accomplish by attempting to fully integrate women into the infantry? For those who dictate policy, changing the current restrictions associated with women in the infantry may not seem significant to the way the Marine Corps operates. I vehemently disagree; this potential change will rock the foundation of our Corps for the worse and will weaken what has been since 1775 the world’s most lethal fighting force. In the end, for DACOWITS and any other individual or organization looking to increase opportunities for female Marines, I applaud your efforts and say thank you. However, for the long-term health of our female Marines, the Marine Corps, and U.S. national security, steer clear of the Marine infantry community when calling for more opportunities for females. Let’s embrace our differences to further hone in on the Corps’ success instead of dismantling who we are to achieve a political agenda.
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Jan '11
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Don't anyone confuse the Physical Readiness Standards (of which there are male and female versions due to physiologic differences) with Combat Readiness Standards.
One maybe, just maybe, possible solution is all female combat units.
Apr '12
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Brave woman to speak the truth. She respects her fellow males too much not to notice the added wear and tear in a female body. The occasional woman can be stronger than males and play male level hockey, etc. but what having the pressure to fill female quotas does is slowly erode standards for all. It is a physical job. I also know that women do not realize how much the male instinct to protect the female is embedded in the DNA. Only having sons tell me repeatedly has taught me just how that instinct runs deep.
Jun '10
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
MLH: Don't anyone confuse the Physical Readiness Standards (of which there are male and female versions due to physiologic differences) with Combat Readiness Standards.
One maybe, just maybe, possible solution is all female combat units. · 19 minutes ago
You can't separate the physical from the mental. Humans don't operate that way. There's no way to be mentally sound, mentally energetic, when you're physically exhausted. The two things go together. Men operate better, in body and mind, because it takes more to exhaust them. It just does. There are rare exceptions, but you don't build important institutions hoping that luck will provide the rare exceptions.
Jul '11
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Mel Foil
MLH: Don't anyone confuse the Physical Readiness Standards (of which there are male and female versions due to physiologic differences) with Combat Readiness Standards.
One maybe, just maybe, possible solution is all female combat units. · 19 minutes ago
You can't separate the physical from the mental. Humans don't operate that way. There's no way to be mentally sound, mentally energetic, when you're physically exhausted. The two things go together. Men operate better, in body and mind, because it takes more to exhaust them. It just does. There are rare exceptions, but you don't build important institutions hoping that luck will provide the rare exceptions. · 3 minutes ago
Really? Because I seen summaries of studies that suggest that women are superior in the stresses their bodies can take, for example, as an astronaut.
I KNOW I'd rather have a squad of those than your average 20-something Marines:
http://youtu.be/eycDq4NW88o
Edited on July 25, 2012 at 2:34amFeb '11
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
If women are placed in combat roles then we as a society must face the following likely scenarios: parents must now also face a higher prospect of burying their daughters who die in combat (they will subject to the same type of deaths suffered by male soldiers e.g. IED/grenade explosions, loss of limbs, etc.), those same daughters are now at greater risk of becoming POW's to enemies that don't care anything about the Geneva convention (so get ready to hear ever increasing stories of horrifying sexual assaults in captivity that may leave some women wishing they had died in combat), they will probably suffer from a dearth of medical complications (physical/mental) from combat stress (the author notes it left her infertile).
The question is are we ready for this?
Mar '11
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
EstoniaKat: I don't think this is an either-or situation. There are women in my life that could kick my butt physically - think Vasquez from the "Aliens" flick. You can't say that you wouldn't want a bunch of them on a squad.
If they can meet the requirements of a Marine, they should be a Marine. No dumbing down the standards, but if they meet them, why not? · 7 hours ago
Because it's incredibly stupid to ignore the natural roles of men and women. But we're going to try anyway. Apparently we're determined to re-learn a number of long established truths the hard way.
Dec '10
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Gender-equality nuts are all about how individual people feel. They feel discriminated against, and that is unjust in their minds. They don't give a damn about what's best for the unit, the Corps, the country, the other men in the infantry. They don't care about operational readiness and the lethality of the infantry. They don't consider the consequences of what they promote. They simply declare something personally offensive and that's the end of that argument. It is S.O.P. for the left and it must be pushed back against.
Jul '11
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Women have demanded equal rights. We have been taught / told that there is no difference between the sexes or if there is then the woman is superior to a man. Fine, equal is equal, right is right, place them in combat, put them on the draft, coed hygiene and sleeping facilities for all, no more favoritism in divorce cases, no more favoritism in child custody cases, no more special treatment in any form. I welcome this brave new equal world that women strive for.
Mar '11
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
EstoniaKat
...
I KNOW I'd rather have a squad of those than your average 20-something Marines:
http://youtu.be/eycDq4NW88o · 4 hours ago
Edited 4 hours ago
EstoniaKat, may I gently suggest that it's generally wiser to rely for your security on any random squad of 20-something Marines than a figment of James Cameron's imagination.
Dec '10
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
It's an awesome example too (though not for the reason she thinks), in that one of her male counterparts (their Lt. IIRC) goes back to help/defend the wounded Vasques, whereupon they both end up getting killed (instead of just her).
Sorry Kat, example fail.
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Some interesting takes. In theory we can say, let's let women in without lowering the standards -- if they meet the standards, fine. I wonder if there are any institutions we can point to where this has in fact been the case. I have a nephew at West Point, where the women have lower standards, and everyone knows it. My assumption is that without those lowered physical standards we would have almost no women graduating from West Point.
May '12
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
For most of the time, our military is at peace: soldiers, sailors and marines are not in combat. The problems of a peace time military are different and sometimes worse: shrinking budgets, government shutdowns, sex abuse, racial issues, drug use, alcoholism and more. Think Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton era's.
The true test for women in combat units would come in situations related to off duty time in the barracks and off-base bars.
Edited on July 25, 2012 at 6:12pmNov '10
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
Let's not forget the more obvious difference(s) between male and female. Just being in a war zone, not in a combat group, is harder for women because of that. The typical lack of hygiene does not mix well with female anatomy, and actual infantry conditions would only aggravate the problems. I was acquainted with a Navy GYN, and among other...interesting stories, he would complain that he would have to prescribe five-minute showers for the ladies to get any sort of cleanliness. That particular doctor was very much opposed to women being in combat. (He was also opposed to women serving on ships, but for different reasons...)
Jul '10
Re: Political Incorrectness, Marine Corps Style
JimGoneWild:
The true test for women in combat units would come in situations related to off duty time in the barracks and off-base bars.
Exactly this. Everyone focuses on the combat aspect of the job. The problems come more in the administrative and logistics area. It's not whether men and women can kill together, it's whether they can live together in the cramped confines of an infantry unit. It's difficult, I think, for people who haven't lived the infantry life to truly understand this point.