The Marine Corps on the battlefield of Iraq, or Afghanistan, has never surrendered or retreated. However, our generals, in Washington, DC, have finally surrendered to the politically correct crowd. I have never seen a group of flag officers more bankrupt of moral courage in my entire life. First, it was their total collapse in the face of attacks of ultra-liberal groups pushing the repeal of Don't Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). Now, it's complete capitulation to the more ultra-liberal and special interest groups like the National Organization for Women (NOW)!
In case you missed the news, the Marine Corps will now put women into "combat arms units". In fact, they are going to send women to Infantry Officer's Course (IOC) at Quantico, Virginia. I find it interesting that they will now 'dumb down' their physical standards for a more “gender neutral" physical fitness test for those women entering the combat arms units. What this action really means is: “reduce our standards”.
I can already see the spin from these general officers. "They are better than the men", “They can do everything a man can do", etc., etc. Those of us that have served know that this is patently false. This is not to denigrate the patriotic contributions women have made to the Marines. They do great work, but let's face it, women are women and men are men. In case you haven’t noticed, the two sexes are different! Men universally are stronger and faster than women. Sure, there are some isolated instances where it could be said, or shown, that there might be a faster women than a particular man, but, how many women play baseball, football or basketball in the men's professional leagues? ZERO! There's a reason why they don't- they are not physically configured equal to men where they can adequately compete with them.
The mission of our great military is not to be a social engineering testing ground for every cockamamie, crazy, kooky idea and agenda that the liberal left can roll out. THE mission of our military is to fight and win wars. Period, END OF STORY! When we fail at that mission, we will already have begun to chisel our epitaph of defeat on the battlefield. Failure on the battlefield results in death and ultimately the loss of our freedom. It's time to stop the tampering and social engineering with our military. Let’s stick to fighting and winning our country's battles. If we do make changes to our military, it needs to be for one reason and one reason only-to make the military better. That should be the standard.
This change, clearly, is not going to make our military better.
This kind of crap has been going on for years, and I don't see it getting any better.
ReplyDelete(0311 - '86 to '90)
While I don't necessarily agree with some of these actions of our Senior Leadership, I think your perspective is a little rear-facing; the realities of war and the battlefield have changed. There is no such thing as "the rear", and it's taken since Vietnam for our Generals to figure that out. Additionally, why should a woman be held back from attaining a rank she rightfully deserves because of a requirement for a course that is open to men only? To give a prime example, the General who was in charge of the flyover missions for Libya - while I didn't agree with the fact that we were there in the first place, that Major General did an excellent job - and did you know it was a WOMAN? And the only reason you probably didn't is because she was a quiet professional, doing her job, and not out there tooting her own horn, and she did as capable a job as any man could do it. And you being a Marine - how about the 19 Female Marine MP's killed in 2005? You can gripe that it should have been men out there, but the reality was that in order to not offend our Iraqi hosts, you had to have women out there patting down other women, and if the enemy chooses to use women suicide bombers, we shouldn't have to play catch-up. We should honor the sacrifice of those 19 women just as we would the sacrifice of any man. I'm not saying we should be putting women in an infantry squad, but we have to face reality - and it's also time our country outgrew the misogynist view that only men can do the job.
ReplyDeleteMany women that serve are courageous while others, in too many cases, are in uniform for the goodies (college education though this is not much different than many of the men). In both the Army & Navy, once a unit's deployment is announced, pregnancies jump off the chart and, when at sea, the pregnancy rate is between 25% - 30% requiring that female sailors be air lifted off of ships and sent home leaving the crew under"manned". In theatre (Iraq & Afghanistan), the women have to be given special privileges for showers because of their tendency toward vaginal infections without proper personal female hygiene. A female "infantry officer" cannot hump for days on end without proper female cleaning and they cannot carry the heavy loads that the typical infantryman carries meaning that the men will have to carry a female officer's gear in the event some General Officer deems that a female shall lead a platoon in theatre. The actual performance of women in combat has been ignored and papered over though the IDF experiment with women in combat arms should be enough evidence for anyone and the IDF dropped the women like hot potatoes after their little experiment in PC failed miserably.
DeleteCommandant Amos is an Aviator and hasn't a clue about ground fighting. I believe his perspective is that since some women are effective Naval Aviators that they can do anything a man can. When was the last time America rescued a downed female aviator in combat? Never! Thus, there is no evidence regarding the combat worthiness of female aviators who have been shot down in hostile territory.
A country that sends its daughters to fight its wars while its sons stay home playing video games and sports is a country that has lost its soul.
Both of my sons have served multiple combat tours in Iraq & Afghanistan so I am privileged to have some inside knowledge about both theatres and the combat load requirements.
Jerry Reed
SSgt. USMC - 1966 - 1970
1st Marine Air Wing, Marine Air Group 13, VMFA-314, Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam Oct. '67 - Nov. '68
So many positive things being said, even more sad things said. Evidently you have not worked or trained with a woman or have done any research. I served in a infantry battalion, I tell you what I kicked more than 70% of those males that I served with. You are so f'n undeducated, they will not be putting every single female through the training, just those who can fit the bill. How many shit birds did you serve with that you knew you could not depend on? think about it.
DeleteModeration is the word.Are they going to lessen the physical requirements? I have some concern when a 51 yr old woman scores at the top of the class in the PT test in basic training. Let women do what they can...but not what they can not.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to file a discrimination lawsuit because I am male and I cannot give birth to a baby. It's just not fair!
ReplyDeleteWe, as a Marine Corps, have lost our focus. Our history shows us that Marines do two things... we fight, and we win. That has always been our focus, and because of that, we have become the best war-fighting organization in the world. The Corps is turning into the Army at an alarming rate. PC has taken hold and we're turning into a bureaucracy, as opposed to maintaining our focus on war-fighting and doing the right things for the right reasons. We have allowed the politicians and liberals to run us out of business. I pray that the next Commandant can get us out of the PC realm and back into worrying about what really matters... defending this great nation.
ReplyDeleteSemper Fidelis!
GySgt 0369
These are the very Generals who were in Viet Nam as Lt.'s and SWORE that they would never abandon their men to a no win situation. Or tie their hands with endless rules of engagement. That we would fight like we trained and damn the politics are now all hiding under their desks afraid of the ACLU, NOW, and GLAAD not too mention a bunch of Socialist politician eggheads.
ReplyDeleteEvery one of these guys has realized that they like being a General, with all of the perks, (which get better the more stars you have), than they do about "Taking care of their Marines." I am so sick of the PR "We take care of our won" crap. We only take care of our own when it is time to make an example of some LtCol or lower for taking care of HIS Marines.
The whole argument about there not being a rear area anymore is bogus as well. There is a big difference between
fighting for your life because you have to due to a penetration of your lines or the enemy is lurking around your rear area and preparing, assembling, crosses the line of departure, and attacking an enemy with the whole focus being to kill him or be killed.
And yeah, I can hand pick dozen of women, 100's, who can handle the physical issues involved in front line combat from humping a mortar base to ammo to machine guns or a 70 pound ruck. Sure, no problem. But I don't get to hand pick the men I get and have to train. I take what I am given and do my best to train them. Some turn out some don't. You can say the same for male studs, some hack it,some don't.
Listen men do not want to be put into the position of fighting along side women. In the back of our heads we will will always think about the playground, or she likes him better than me, or what the hell is she thinking anyway, is she on her period, (hey, it is going to happen.)
No I have been saying for years that the generals are selling us out for another star. They all want to be Patton without the balls to say no. Have any one of them resigned out of disgust? Anybody? The queers and their supporters always knew that once they got the Marines it was over for everything else.
And they were right.
Forrest B. Christenot
1979-2006
03011 & 0302
I believe it disrupt the close knit bond that a Combat unit forms for each other. Seeing a women taken prisoner, KIA or even torture only make it,harder, I believe on the mental health of the unit. And what about the mutual attraction between Men And Women. WE can't have troops dating each other when in a Hot zone.
ReplyDelete